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MY   DIOCESE    DURING   THE   WAR 


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FroJttispiece. 


MY    DIOCESE 
DURING   THE    WAR 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  DIARY 

OF   THE 

RIGHT  REV. 

ARTHUR   HAMILTON   BAYNES,   D.D. 

BISHOP   OF  NATAL 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH   SKETCHES  BY   THE  AUTHOR  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS 
BY   CLINTON   T.    DENT,    F.R.C.S.,    AND  OTHERS 


LONDON 

GEORGE   BELL  AND  SONS 

1900 


32- 


CHISWICK  PRESS  :   CHARLES  WHITTINGHAM  AND  CO. 
TOOKS  COURT,    CHANCERY   LANE,   LONDON. 


NOTE 

In  preparing  these  extracts  from  my  brothers 
Diary  for  publication,  I  have  found  the  work 
of  selection  a  rather  difficult  task. 

The  interest  throughout  depends  so  largely 
on  the  many  personal  references,  that  I  have 
been  anxious  not  to  cut  too  much  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  some  unimportant  details  may  have  been 
retained :  for  any  such  faults  of  omission  or 
commission  I  take  all  responsibility. 

The  Diary  does  not  pretend  to  any  literary 
merit ;  it  is  simply  a  hastily  written  record,  for 
home  reading,  of  days  of  intense  interest  and 
of  stirring  events. 

I  have  added,  as  a  concluding  chapter,  two 
letters  which  were  written  for  the  **  Natal 
Diocesan  Magazine." 

I  am  glad  to  have  this  opportunity  of  pub- 
licly expressing  my  thanks  to  Mr.  Clinton  Dent 
for  the  kind  help  he  has  given  me  in  the  re- 
vising of  the  proofs,  and  also  for  allowing  a 
few  of  his  photographs  to  be  reproduced. 

Helen  E.  Baynes. 
Mount  View, 

Hampstead, 

May^  1900. 


r'  <  i*  »-'"^  r'  ■ " 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

A  PREFACE  usually  comments  on  the  text  and 
gives  reasons  for  its  publication.  The  former  I 
cannot  do,  as  I  do  not  know  what  this  book  con- 
tains, nor  shall  I  have  any  opportunity  of  seeing 
the  proofs.  As  to  the  latter,  I  can  give  no 
better  apology  than  that  in  the  hard  times 
through  which  my  poor  diocese  has  passed  the 
Publishers'  offer  was  not  one  to  be  declined. 

Since  I  left  England,  in  October,  1893,  i^  ^^^ 
been  my  daily  habit  to  scribble  an  unpremedi- 
tated record  of  events,  and  to  post  this  weekly 
batch  of  diary  to  my  home  circle  in  place  of 
letter.  This  diary  is  written  in  odd  moments, 
in  the  early  morning  or  late  at  night  after  a 
tiring  day  ;  and  I  take  no  special  pains  as  to  its 
form,  but  write  down  a  bare  record  of  facts. 
Comments,  reflections,  emotions  of  a  higher  or 
deeper  kind,  if  committed  to  writing  at  all,  are 
reserved  for  the  more  personal  medium  of  letters. 

Rough  in  form,  however,  as  my  diary  is,  and 
bare  and  unedifying  in  matter,  the  Publishers 

A  2 


Vlll  AUTHORS    PREFACE 

have  thought  that  it  may  contain  enough  of 
general  interest  during  these  last  interesting 
months  to  be  worth  printing,  and  in  response  to 
their  request  my  sister  has  undertaken  the 
selection  of  extracts. 

The  roughest  sketch  which  gives  the  local 
colouring  sometimes  conveys  a  truer  impression 
than  the  most  accurate  photograph,  and  possibly 
this  diary,  written  on  the  spot,  may  have  this 
small  merit.  My  own  experience  has  been  that 
there  are  some  things  one  only  gets  a  proper 
view  of  on  the  spot.  For  instance,  before  I 
came  to  South  Africa  I  had  a  settled  impression 
that  Cape  Town  was  at  the  extreme  southern 
point  of  the  Continent,  and  that  Table  Mountain 
looked  out  over  it  straight  towards  the  South 
Pole.  It  was  only  when  I  got  there  that  I 
found  Table  Mountain  facing  almost  due  north, 
staring  at  me  as  I  approached  from  England. 
It  is  just  possible  that  my  diary  may  serve  to 
correct  a  few  such  a  priori  and  erroneous  im- 
pressions. 

But  there  is  one  respect  in  which  even  we  who 
lived  on  the  spot  were  quite  at  fault.  Some  of 
us,  indeed,  were  at  fault  on  two  points.  We 
never  believed,  till  just  before  flie  event,  that 
there  would  be  war,  and  we  never  dreamed 
that  if  there  were  it  would  be  anything  very  big. 


AUTHORS    PREFACE  IX 

As  I  look  back  to  a  year  ago,  I  seem  to  see 
quite  a  different  South  Africa  from  that  which 
I  see  now.  There  was  Johannesburg  with  its 
anomaHes,  it  is  true.  No  one  had  any  doubt  that 
the  existing  condition  of  things  could  not  go  on 
permanently.  The  grievances  of  the  Uitlanders 
were  undoubted.  And  it  was  an  impossible 
position  that  the  paramount  power  in  South 
Africa  should  always  suffer  its  subjects  to  be 
treated  like  naughty  children,  surrounded  with 
prohibitions  and  restrictions,  and  allowed  none 
of  the  rights  of  citizenship.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  these  grievances  did  not  seem  so  very 
pressing.  It  was  doubtful  how  far  they  really 
weighed  on  the  majority  of  the  Englishmen  of 
the  Rand,  and  especially  on  the  working  class, 
how  far  they  were  reaching  the  point  of  becoming 
intolerable.  And,  again,  the  deplorable  blunder 
of  the  Jameson  Raid  was  felt  to  have  tied  our 
hands — no  one  could  say  exactly  for  how  long. 
And,  thirdly,  we  (I  speak,  of  course,  for  myself) 
did  not  really  believe  that,  when  the  time  came 
for  firm  pressure  to  be  applied,  Pretoria  would 
hold  out  at  the  risk  of  war. 

It  was  the  Bloemfontein  Conference  that  first 
began  to  open  our  eyes.  Then  it  did  begin  to 
look  as  if  the  Transvaal  had  a  stiffer  backbone 
than  we  had  supposed.     Still,  it  might  be  bluff, 


author's  preface 


and  not  really  backbone  at  all.  But  a  visit  to 
Government  House,  Cape  Town,  at  the  end  of 
last  July,  completed  the  awakening  in  my  own 
case.  Then  I  began  to  perceive  that  signs  of 
any  inclination  seriously  to  meet  the  grievances 
were  altogether  wanting ;  and  that  in  this,  and 
many  other  directions,  there  were  unmistakable 
signs  coming  into  view  of  a  spirit  very  far  re- 
moved from  conciliation  or  yielding  on  the  part 
of  the  South  African  Republic.  It  seemed 
plain  that  it  was  no  longer  a  question  of  a  five 
years'  or  a  seven  years'  franchise.  It  was  a 
question  which  was  to  be  the  power  that  was  to 
dictate  to  South  Africa.  And  if  that  was  the 
question  at  issue,  there  was  little  chance  for 
conferences  to  settle  it. 

Still,  even  so  we  were  at  fault.  I,  at  least, 
smiled  when  I  was  told  that  this  was  going  to 
be  the  biggest  affair  since  the  Crimea.  I  con- 
fess to  such  ignorance  that  I  could  not  under- 
stand why  we  did  not  at  once  occupy  Laing's 
Nek,  never  doubting  that  we  could  hold  it  and 
so  prevent  the  Boers  from  barring  our  advance 
at  such  a  formidable  barricade.  If  anyone  had 
told  me  then  that,  so  far  from  being  able  to  hold 
Laing's  Nek,  we  should  not  be  able  to  hold 
Dundee  and  the  Biggarsberg,  nor  indeed  to 
maintain  our  communications  between  Maritz- 


author's  preface 


burg  and  Ladysmith,  I  think  I  should  have 
laughed  outright. 

This  is  a  startling  confession  to  make.  But 
others,  with  far  better  opportunities  of  knowing, 
appear  to  have  shared  the  ignorance.  On  June 
1 2th,  1899,  Mr.  Schreiner,  the  Premier  of  the 
Cape,  wrote  to  the  Mayor  of  Kimberley :  "  I 
wish  to  assure  you  without  delay  that  no  reason 
whatever  exists  for  apprehending  that  Kim- 
berley, or  any  part  of  this  Colony,  either  is,  or 
in  any  contemplated  event  will  be,  in  any 
danger  of  attack.  I  am  officially  informed  that 
representatives  of  the  South  African  League 
have  professed  to  the  Civil  Commissioner  of 
Kimberley  fear  of  invasion  from  the  Orange 
Free  State  or  South  African  Republics.  Such 
fears  are  absolutely  groundless."  Mr.  Rhodes 
said  to  me  himself :  **  You  see  if  I  am  not  right ; 
there  will  not  be  a  shot  fired."  And  the  late 
Mr.  Escombe,  ex- Premier  of  Natal,  whose  sin- 
cerity no  one  would  question,  said  the  same. 

And  as  to  the  dimensions  of  the  war,  people 
in  high  position  said  that  from  40,000  to  50,000 
men  would  be  sufficient  for  the  job.  And  many 
military  men  to  whom  I  spoke  seemed  to  think 
that  it  was  worth  while  to  allow  the  Boers  to 
occupy  Laing's  Nek,  in  order  to  get  them  to 
make  a  stand  where  we  could  attack  them  to- 


XU  AUTHORS    PREFACE 

gether,  as  it  seemed  unlikely  otherwise  that 
we  should  ever  have  anything  but  a  desultory 
guerilla  warfare.  The  fear  was  that,  so  far  from 
invading,  they  would  not  even  stand  to  receive 
a  serious  attack  or  fight  a  pitched  battle.  If 
those  prophets  could  only  have  looked  across 
the  little  gap  of  weeks  that  hid  the  coming 
events  at  Colenso  and  Stormberg  and  Magers- 
fontein ! 

And  if  there  was  little  expectation  of  war,  or 
of  a  war  of  huge  proportions,  there  was  equally 
little  desire  for  it  even  among  many  of  those 
whose  business  is  fighting.  I  remember  well 
walking  down  from  Mess  at  Fort  Napier  one 
night  in  last  June,  or  thereabouts,  with  poor 
General  Symons,  and  his  saying  to  me :  "  It 
would  be  indeed  a  grievous  thing ;  we  none  of 
us  want  to  be  sent  to  kill  the  ignorant  Boer 
farmers." 

However,  there  were  a  few  who  better  gauged 
the  chances  of  the  future.  Some  older  colonists, 
and  among  them  my  own  brothers-in-law,  not 
only  said  that  there  would  be  war,  but  warned 
us  that  Maritzburg  itself  would  be  by  no  means 
safe,  that  the  Boers  would  overrun  Natal,  and 
that  they  would  be  far  too  mobile  to  be  deterred 
by  fears  of  having  their  communications  cut  off. 
At  that  time  these  pessimistic  forecasts  seemed 


AUTHORS    PREFACE  Xlll 

to  US  as  idle  tales,  but  they  were  much  nearer 
the  truth  than  our  easy-going  optimism. 

So  the  months  of  uncertainty  flowed  silently 
by  till  in  a  moment  the  awakening  came.  The 
startling  Ultimatum  rudely  banished  the  idea 
that  the  Boers  would  not  fight,  and  the  big  gun 
on  I  mparti,  and  the  consequent  retreat  of  General 
Yule,  woke  us  from  the  dream  that  if  there  were 
war  it  would  be  a  short  and  easy  one. 

I  may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  add  to  the  mere 
record  of  outward  events  some  words  on  their 
inner  significance  which  I  have  already  ad- 
dressed to  my  own  diocese.^ 

*  "Natal  Diocesan  Magazine,"  March,  1900. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

PAGE 

I. 

On  the  Brink 

I 

II. 

First  Days  of  War 

13 

III. 

The  First  Fights    . 

24 

IV. 

Reverses  . 

46 

V. 

A  Visit  to  Estcourt 

67 

VI. 

The  Boer  Raid 

78 

VII. 

The  Invasion  Staved 

90 

VIII. 

A  Week  End  in  Camp 

97 

IX. 

Vicissitudes  of  War 

.     104 

X. 

Again  at  the  Front 

114 

XI. 

Daily  Duties  . 

125 

XII. 

At  the  Front  with  General  Buller 

.     138 

XIII. 

Incidents  of  Camp  Life 

. 

156 

XIV. 

Crossing  the  Tugela 

. 

175 

XV. 

The  Fighting  round  Spion 

Kop    . 

.     189 

XVI. 

Diocesan  Work 

. 

202 

XVII. 

From  Cape  Town  to  Kimberley    . 

220 

XVIII. 

Kimberley 

,        . 

234 

XIX. 

At  the  Cape    . 

. 

.     245 

XX. 

Conclusion 

. 

256 

LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


The    Right    Rev.    A.    H.    Baynes,    Bishop    of 
Natal       .....       Frontispiece 

Ladysmith  and  Umbuluwana        .         .  to  face  p,  70 

Nottingham  Road          .        .        .        .        „  98 

No.  IV.  General  Hospital,  Mooi  River        „  102 

The  Drakensberg          .        .        .        .        „  146 

On  the  Tugela „  175 

The  Point,  Durban                .         .         .         „  212 

Cape  Town  and  Table  Bay          .         .         „  226 

On  the  Way  to  Kimberley                   .        „  230 

Alexandersfontein,  near  Kimberley  .        ,,  238 

Boer  Laager,  Magersfontein      .                 ,,  238 
Boer     Trenches    at    Magersfontein 

(Two  Views) „  244 

Kalk  Bay       .......  246 


MY  DIOCESE 
DURING    THE    WAR 

CHAPTER    I 

ON    THE    BRINK 

v'^thics  of  the  Question — Visit  to  Dundee  and  return  to 
Colenso  with  Sir  W.  Penn  Symons — The  Ultimatum — 
Early  Successes  of  the  Boers. 

Bishop's  House,  Maritzburg, 
Friday^  Sep.  29,  1899. 

None  of  us  here  can  think  or  write  of  anything 
but  one  subject — the  prospect  of  war — and  that 
will  have  been  settled  one  way  or  the  other 
before  you  get  this.  Nearly  all  our  friends  in 
the  regiments  here  have  already  left  to  be 
nearer  the  border.  It  has  been  a  very  touching 
sight  last  week  and  this  to  see  the  departure 
of  the  men  amidst  immense  enthusiasm  on  the 
part  of  the  crowds,  but  very  different  feelings 
on  the  part  of  wives  and  children,  who  cannot 
tell  when  or  whether  they  will  see  them  again. 
On  Monday  last  I  went  to  the  station  to  see 
B 


2  —  ,  ON    THE    BRINK 

the  6oth  Rifles  and  part  of  the  5  th  Lancers 
entrained.  The  men  were  carried  in  open 
trucks,  which  had  been  fitted  up  with  benches 
and  a  sort  of  scaffolding  round  the  sides,  with  a 
beam  for  a  back  to  the  seats— not  a  very  com- 
fortable method  of  spending  the  night  in  the 
train,  but  fortunately  the  weather  was  fine. 
These  troops  were  going  to  take  the  place  at 
Ladysmith  of  those  who,  the  night  before,  had 
been  quietly  and  swiftly  moved  from  Ladysmith 
to  Glencoe.  The  order  for  this  move  was  only 
given  at  8  on  Sunday  night,  and  the  troops 
were  in  the  train  by  2  a.m.,  and  in  their  new 
camp  by  6  on  Monday  morning.  These  con- 
sist of  battalions  of  the  Leicestershire  Regiment, 
the  Dublin  Fusiliers,  and  the  i8th  Hussars, 
besides  one  or  two  batteries  of  artillery,  and 
some  engineers.  I  am  hoping  to  go  up  on 
Saturday  night  with  the  General  to  pay  them  a 
visit  and  hold  a  church  parade  on  Sunday,  if 
things  are  then  still  as  they  are  now ;  but  we 
cannot  tell,  from  day  to  day,  what  may  happen. 
We  have  all  sorts  of  rumours  as  to  Boer  raids 
into  Natal,  as  to  native  risings,  etc.,  but  the 
recollection  of  many  colonists  of  similar  rumours 
and  alarms  at  the  time  of  the  former  wars  here 
serves  to  reassure  us  a  little. 

As  to  the  ethics  of  the  question,  which  after 


THE    ETHICS    OF    THE    QUESTION  3 

all  is  the  matter  that  supremely  concerns  us,  my 
own  tendency  has  always  been  to  distrust  any- 
thing like  Jingoism,  and  I  felt  and  spoke 
strongly  at  the  time  of  the  Jameson  Raid,  both 
as  to  the  method  and  the  motive.  I  could  not 
feel  sure  that  that  was  a  genuine  uprising  of  the 
people,  or,  at  all  events,  that  it  was  not  being 
exploited  for  the  purposes  of  capitalists.  But  I 
am  thankful  to  feel  free  from  such  suspicions 
this  time.  My  recent  visit  to  Cape  Town,  and 
my  immense  confidence  in  Sir  Alfred  Milner, 
from  long  acquaintance,  have  satisfied  me  that 
the  case  for  firm  and  effective  interference  is 
now  overwhelmingly  strong.  We  cannot  be 
the  paramount  power,  and  decline  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  position.  The  time  has  really 
come  now  for  us  to  decide  between  two  possible 
lines  of  policy  :  either  to  leave  South  Africa  to 
settle  its  own  affairs,  and  allow  it  to  become,  as 
it  then  probably  would,  an  Africander  Federa- 
tion, or  else  to  accept  the  responsibiHty  of  our 
present  position,  and  say  plainly  that  that  posi- 
tion is  inconsistent  with  the  existence  of  oppres- 
sion practised  on  Englishmen.  There  is  no 
third  course  open  to  us. 

The  expedient  which  the  second  line  of 
policy  seems  likely  to  entail  is  indeed  a  terrible 
one.     No  one  can  face  war  without  a  sense  of 


4  ON    THE    BRINK 

its  awfulness  ;  no  one  but  must  feel  that  it  is  the 
clumsiest  and  most  barbarous  method  of  arbitra- 
tion. But  if  through  weakness  and  shrinking 
from  the  horrors  of  war  we  allowed  things  to 
slip  into  a  state  of  anarchy,  having  let  the  pos- 
sible moment  for  effective  interference  pass 
away,  the  sufferings,  the  bitterness,  the  pro- 
tracted conflicts  which  might  be  the  consequence 
would  in  all  probability  be  far  worse  than  such 
a  war  as  now  seems  to  be  at  hand.  Indeed, 
we  cling  to  the  hope  that  the  home  Govern- 
ment has  profited  by  the  experience  of  the  past 
enough  to  be  preparing  to  carry  out  this  cam- 
paign on  a  scale  which  shall  insure,  so  far  as 
human  preparations  can  do  so,  that  it  shall  be 
short  and  conclusive.  God  give  us  all  grace  to 
keep  our  heads,  to  sternly  repress  the  unworthy 
feelings  of  race  hatred,  of  vain  longing  for  re- 
venge or  retaliation,  and  so  overrule  even  the 
evils  of  war  for  our  good  that  it  may  in  the  end 
lead  to  a  truer  brotherhood  and  a  firm  and 
righteous  rule,  and  to  the  extension  of  His 
Kingdom  among  both  white  and  black  South 
Africans. 

On  this  very  day  I  travelled  up  through 
the  night  to  Glencoe  and  Dundee.  Our  much- 
loved  and  lamented  General,  Sir  William  Penn 
Symons,   had   very  kindly  suggested  that  we 


POSITION   AT    GLENCOE  5 

should  travel  up  and  down  together ;  but  as 
he  could  not  start  till  Saturday  night,  I  pre- 
ferred to  go  on  a  day  sooner  so  as  to  get  a  little 
longer  with  the  troops  and  not  have  to  preach 
immediately  after  a  night  journey  in  the  train, 
so  I  went  on  on  the  Friday  and  he  followed  on 
the  Saturday.  It  was  a  very  little  force  which 
we  then  had  at  Glencoe — only  two  infantry 
battalions — the  Dublin  Fusiliers  and  the  Leices- 
tershire— and  one  cavalry  regiment,  the  i8th 
Hussars,  and  a  single  battery  of  artillery.  As 
the  Boers  had  a  dashing  commander,  one  could 
not  but  feel  that  then  was  their  chance.  They 
were  said  to  be  in  considerable  numbers  just 
across  the  Buffalo,  not  more  than  sixteen  miles 
away.  Indeed,  a  farmer  rode  in  through  the 
night  to  say  that  we  were  certainly  going  to  be 
attacked  next  morning.  However,  war  had  not 
then  been  declared,  and  the  idea  of  their  at- 
tacking us  was  not  seriously  entertained.  On 
the  Saturday  I  was  able  to  see  something  of 
some  of  the  men  in  camp  as  well  as  of  some  of 
the  Dundee  people.  And  on  the  Sunday 
morning  we  had  a  church  parade.  The 
weather  was  threatening ;  but  it  did  not  get 
beyond  a  slight  mist.  I  felt  at  the  time  that  I 
was  speaking  to  some  who  would  be  very  soon 
facing  for  themselves  the  mysteries  of  death, 


6  ON    THE    BRINK 

and  that  which  lies  beyond  it.  And  it  proved 
to  be  so.  The  text  was  **  Stand  fast  in  the 
Lord,  My  dearly  beloved." 

In  the  afternoon  I  returned  to  the  camp,  and 
with  the  General  made  a  tour  of  the  different 
regiments.  He  had  an  eye  for  everything,  and 
above  all  was  continually  considering  all  possible 
ways  of  promoting  the  comfort  of  the  men  and 
saving  them  from  any  unnecessary  labour.  He 
would  not  have  them  stand  to  attention  as  he 
moved  about  the  camp.  He  evidently  foresaw 
what  was  the  work  they  would  soon  have  to  do, 
for  he  said  to  Major  Bird,  who  was  commanding 
the  Dublin  Fusiliers,  **  I  want  you  to  practise 
your  men  in  trying  to  get  to  the  top  of  that  hill 
(pointing  to  the  slopes  of  Imparti)  without  ex- 
posing themselves,  taking  advantage  of  every 
bit  of  cover,  so  that  if  possible  they  shall  get  to 
the  top  without  being  seen  from  it."  In  the 
evening  I  preached  in  the  church  to  a  full  con- 
gregation, consisting  largely  of  men,  for  already 
a  certain  number  of  the  ladies  had  left. 

Next  morning  the  General  and  I  left  again 
for  Maritzburg.  I  looked  out  on  all  the  sur- 
rounding hills  with  a  special  interest,  wondering 
which  would  become  famous  as  a  battlefield.  I 
asked  him  if  our  position  would  not  become  un- 
tenable if  there  were  an  enemy  with  guns  on  the 


BACK    TO    MARITZBURG  7 

ImpartI  Mountain.  He  said  we  might  surround 
the  whole  hill  and  take  their  guns,  and  so  per- 
haps we  might  have  done  if  we  had  had  the 
necessary  number  of  troops.  As  it  was,  the 
victory  of  Talana  was  only  gained  because  of 
the  fortunate  coincidence  that  the  top  of  Imparti 
was  veiled  in  mist  all  that  day.  I  am  told  that 
General  Symons  was  very  eager  to  get  the  fight 
of  Talana  over,  lest  that  most  fortunate  mist 
should  lift  and  so  unveil  the  enemy's  big  guns 
which  they  were  known  to  have  mounted  there. 
On  that  Monday  morning,  as  the  train  steamed 
away  from  the  siding  near  the  camp.  Colonel 
Moller,  who  was  then  in  command  of  the  little 
force,  waved  an  adieu  to  General  Symons, 
'*  Come  back  soon  and  come  to  stay,"  words 
which  were  pathetically  prophetic. 

The  journey  down  had  a  special  interest. 
First  we  joined  at  Glencoe  one  of  the  crowded 
refugee  trains  from  Johannesburg.  The  poor 
people  had  been  nearly  three  days  on  the 
journey,  though,  as  it  turned  out  two  days  later, 
they  were  fortunate  to  get  carriages  at  all,  and 
not  dirty  coal  trucks  as  others  had.  Then,  too, 
we  were  joined  by  Major  Henderson  of  the 
Intelligence  Department,  and  he  had  interesting 
news  to  tell  us  of  the  movements  of  the  enemy, 
of  which  he  knew  much  from  his  own  observa- 


8  ON    THE    BRINK 

tions  in  a  ride  all  down  the  border.  And  then 
again  the  Volunteers  had  just  been  called  out, 
and  all  the  way  down  we  passed  them  as  they 
were  taking  up  their  quarters  in  the  various 
positions  to  which  they  were  assigned.  We 
looked  at  many  points  that  have  since  become 
famous.  We  watched  the  crowded  platform  at 
Ladysmith,  where  Volunteers  of  various  regi- 
ments were  getting  their  things  into  order,  and 
we  saw  their  camp  quite  near.  We  hardly 
realized  then  that  in  a  few  weeks  that  very  plat- 
form was  to  be  shattered  by  shells  and  to  be  in- 
accessible to  any  of  us  in  Maritzburg. 

At  Colenso  we  watched  the  first  beginnings 
of  the  erection  of  what  has  since  been  called 
Fort  Wylie,  just  above  the  Tugela  railway 
bridge,  on  the  north  side  of  it.  We  little 
thought  then  that  this  was  being  erected  as  a 
stronghold  for  the  Boers  which  an  English 
army  of  15,000  men  would  be  unable  to  take. 
We  saw  the  Naval  Volunteers  dragging  their 
guns  into  position.  I  think  we  regarded  all 
this  as  a  rather  amusing  and  harmless  diversion, 
calculated  to  reassure  people's  minds  while 
keeping  the  Volunteers  usefully  employed  until 
they  were  wanted  for  real  work  at  the  front.  I 
do  not  think  that  anyone  in  Natal  then  realized 
that  this,  and  not  Glencoe  or  Laing's  Nek  was  to 


ARRIVAL   OF    SIR    G.    WHITE  9 

be  the  "  front."  That  day  in  the  train  is  one 
that  will  long  live  in  my  memory.  The  General 
and  I  had  the  carriage  to  ourselves  (Major 
Henderson  having  left  us  at  Ladysmith),  and 
all  the  way  down  we  had  long  and  interesting 
discussions  on  the  position,  both  political  and 
military.  The  I  ndian  contingent  was  j ust  about 
to  arrive,  and  I,  at  least,  with  all  an  English- 
man's complacent  optimism,  felt  that  when  once 
it  had  arrived  our  position  was  assured,  even  if 
it  were  not  so  already.  I  did  not,  indeed,  sup- 
pose that  we  could  take  the  offensive  till  the 
Army  Corps  from  England  arrived,  but  I  took  it 
for  granted  that  the  papers  were  right  in  assum- 
ing that  the  Indian  reinforcements  were  ample 
to  check  any  hostile  movement  into  Natal  on 
the  part  of  the  Boers.  It  is  rather  sad,  but  at 
the  same  time  instructive  reading,  now  to  look 
back  to  the  papers  of  that  time.  They  all 
assured  us  that  the  force  we  had  would  be  ample 
to  prevent  any  little  raiding  that  the  Boers 
might  attempt. 

From  this  point  the  interest  in  the  situation 
quickened  rapidly.  A  few  days  later  we  had 
the  arrival  of  Generals  Sir  George  White  and 
Sir  Archibald  Hunter  and  General  Yule  and 
General  Wolfe  Murray.  It  was  a  very  interest- 
ing evening  I  spent  at  Government  House  on 


lO  ON    THE   BRINK 

the  day  of  their  arrival,  sitting  next  to  General 
Hunter,  and  having  long  and  interesting  talks 
with  him  about  both  the  Sudan  and  Natal. 
On  October  9th  came  the  astounding  '*  Ulti- 
matum," and  the  very  next  day  the  starting 
of  this  illustrious  group  of  officers  for  the  front. 
As  I  said  **  Good-bye  "  to  General  White  on  the 
station  platform,  I  knew  from  both  his  manner 
and  his  words,  more  than  I  had  realized  before, 
how  grave  was  the  task  which  lay  before  him, 
though  even  then  I  think  we  should  have  smiled 
incredulously  at  any  prophet  who  had  told  us 
that  for  three  months  at  least  we  should  have 
no  chance  of  seeing  any  of  these  again. 

Then  followed  days  of  anxious  waiting  as  we 
felt  the  opposing  forces  gradually  creeping  near 
to  each  other,  and  watched  for  the  first  flash  of 
the  first  cannon.  There  were  rumours  of  the 
Free  State  Boers  threatening  Ladysmith  from 
the  west,  and  moves  and  counter-moves  of  the 
Ladysmith  force  and  its  outposts  to  get  at  them. 
Then  came  the  brush  with  the  Carbineers,  in 
which  Lieut.  Gallwey,  the  son  of  our  Chief 
Justice,  was  taken  prisoner.  And  then  in  quick 
succession  the  exciting  telegrams  about  Talana, 
Elandslaagte,  and  Rietfontein,  and  we  hoped 
that  another  fight  or  two  would  break  the  back 
of  the  Boer  attack.     Even  then  we  had  little 


BOER    SUCCESSES  II 

idea  of  what  lay  before  us.  The  first  awaken- 
ing to  the  actual  position  was  probably  the 
retirement  from  Dundee.  It  was  a  magni- 
ficently executed  manoeuvre,  thanks,  I  fancy, 
chiefly  to  Colonel  Dartnell,  of  the  Natal  Mounted 
Police,  but  it  showed  us  what  the  enemy  we 
were  facing  was  like,  that  we  had  thus  to  retire 
and  concentrate.  Then  came  the  doubtful  day 
of  Lombard's  Kop  and  the  news  of  the  surren- 
der of  the  two  half  battalions  of  the  Gloucesters 
and  the  Irish  Fusiliers,  and  about  the  same 
time  the  official  confirmation  of  what  we  had 
practically  known  for  certain  some  time  before 
— the  loss  of  the  squadron  of  the  i8th  Hussars 
and  the  mounted  infantry  under  Colonel  Moller 
after  the  battle  of  Talana  Hill. 

From  this  point  things  got  steadily  worse, 
though  with  occasional  gleams  of  sunshine. 
There  was  the  investment  of  Ladysmith,  the 
retirement  from  Colenso,  the  raiding  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Estcourt,  the  gradual  influx 
of  the  Boers  on  each  side  till  Estcourt,  too, 
was  cut  off,  the  attack  (a  faint  one,  it  is  true)  on 
Mooi  River,  and  the  possibility,  coming  more 
and  more  within  the  horizon  of  practical  politics, 
of  the  invasion  of  Maritzburg.  And  then,  too, 
there  was  the  disaster  of  the  armoured  train. 
Its  redeeming  feature  was  the  heroic  bravery  of 


12  ON    THE    BRINK 

Mr.  Winston  Churchill,  which  impressed  every 
single  man  who  was  present ;  but  it  rubbed  in 
the  obvious  fact  that  the  blunders  were  always 
on  our  side,  and  never  on  that  of  the  Boers. 
The  chief  gleam  of  sunshine  during  this  rather 
gloomy  time  was  the  night  attack  on  Willow 
Grange  by  General  Hildyard.  Though  much 
complicated  by  the  terrible  hailstorm  of  that 
night  and  other  difficulties,  it  had  evidently  a 
very  considerable  moral  effect  on  the  Boers,  and 
from  that  moment  the  ebb  of  their  flowing  tide 
began.  Very  soon  they  were  back  again  beyond 
the  Tugela,  and  the  line  was  free  for  us  to  re- 
pair and  use  right  up  to  Frere. 


CHAPTER   II 

FIRST    DAYS     OF     WAR 

Boers  cross  the  Border — Feverish  Excitement  in  Maritz- 
burg — Arrangements  for  the  Sick  and  Wounded — Fighting 
begun. 

Saturday y  Oct,  14,  1899. — We  still  wait  for 
startling  developments.  Yesterday  there  was  a 
telegram  to  say  that  large  numbers  of  Free 
State  Boers  had  crossed  the  border  from  Harri- 
smith  by  Tintara's  Pass,  and  were  advancing 
towards  Ladysmith  or  Colenso.  Our  troops 
went  out  from  Ladysmith  to  try  and  get  at 
them,  but  they  seem  to  have  thought  better  of 
it  and  slipped  away  back  again  to  the  Berg.  I 
am  afraid  this  is  what  will  happen  :  they  will 
not  face  a  general  engagement,  but  will  try  and 
raid  and  cut  off  transports  and  cut  the  railway 
line,  of  course,  if  they  can,  though  I  hope  they 
will  not  be  able  to  get  at  it.  Our  troops  will 
try  their  best  to  be  there  first  if  they  are  heard 
of  as  approaching  the  line.  In  one  way  per- 
haps it  is  the  best  thing  that  can  happen,  for  if 


14  FIRST    DAYS    OF    WAR 

they  play  that  game  for  another  month,  we  shall 
have  troops  enough  to  begin  the  advance  into 
their  country.  To-day  there  is  sad  news  of  the 
loss  of  an  armoured  train  between  Vryburg  and 
Mafeking. 

I  met  Mr.  Edwards  (Vicar  of  Newcastle)  this 
morning.  He  has  been  obliged  after  all  to 
leave  Newcastle,  though  he  waited  till  the  very 
last.  It  has  been  entirely  deserted,  Mr.  Jack- 
son, the  magistrate,  alone  remaining,  though 
Mr.  Edwards  thinks  he  may  have  since  left  on 
horseback.  Our  General  felt  that  we  should  be 
running  a  too  serious  risk  in  trying  to  hold 
Newcastle.  We  have  not  forces  enough  to 
divide  up  between  so  many  places.  It  is  a 
particularly  unfortunate  border-line  for  us,  as 
Natal  runs  up  between  the  Transvaal  and  Free 
State  in  a  very  narrow  point :  we  have  the 
border  close  to  us  everywhere,  and  may  be 
attacked  all  down  the  line.  So  we  have  had  to 
tell  the  Newcastle  people  that  we  cannot  defend 
them,  and  the  result  is  that  all  of  them  have 
thought  it  safer  to  clear.  They  have  left  their 
houses  just  as  they  are,  so  either  Boers  or 
Kaffirs  are  having  a  good  time. 

I  met  Mr.  Crawford,  at  whose  house  I  have 
often  stayed.  He  has  left  all  his  goods,  and 
it  is  a  very  well-furnished,  comfortable  house. 


BOERS    AND    NATIVES  1 5 

Mr.  Edwards  must  have  been  a  sight  to  see 
when  he  left.  All  his  boys  (natives)  had 
already  cleared  for  fear  of  the  Boers,  so  he  had 
to  wheel  his  goods  to  the  station  himself  on  a 
wheelbarrow.  On  the  way  he  found  two  old 
coloured  women  toiling  under  the  burden  of 
two  big  bundles  which  they  could  hardly  carry, 
so  he  took  their  bundles  on  board  too.  A  funny 
sight,  but  a  pleasant  one  as  far  as  that  last 
episode  goes,  in  this  country,  where  as  a  rule 
the  coloured  people  receive  so  little  considera- 
tion. If  all  the  stories  I  hear  are  true,  or  even 
half  of  them,  about  the  Boers'  treatment  of  the 
natives,  they  deserve  to  lose  their  power.  Mr. 
Edwards  was  telling  me  some  bad  stories. 
Living  so  near  the  border  in  the  midst  of  the 
Dutch,  he  hears  a  good  many  such. 

Sunday,  Oct.  15. — As  no  one  had  asked  me 
to  preach  to-day,  I  thought  I  might  have  a  day 
off,  especially  as  I  know  there  are  plenty  of 
clergy  about  from  the  Transvaal  and  Newcastle. 
However,  when  I  went  to  the  early  service  at 
the  Garrison  Church,  Twemlow  asked  me  if  I 
would  preach  to  the  men  at  11,  as  he  was 
asked  to  preach  to  the  Imperial  Light  Horse  at 
a  special  parade  at  St.  Saviour's  at  9.30.  I  felt 
rather  guilty  in  doing  nothing,  so  I  said  ''  Yes," 
though  it  was  rather  short  notice.     The  Rifles 


1 6  FIRST    DAYS    OF    WAR 

were  there — the  2nd  Battalion,  which  has  just 
come  out.  I  preached  to  them  from  the  words 
in  the  second  lesson, ''  With  singleness  of  heart, 
fearing  the  Lord."  Things  are  very  quiet  to- 
day. I  suppose  the  Boers  would  not  choose 
Sunday  for  operations  unless  they  were  obliged. 
After  luncheon  I  went  in  for  a  little  chat  with 
the  Governor. 

We  live  in  a  state  of  feverish  excitement, 
waiting  for  each  scrap  of  news  and  surrounded 
by  startling  rumours  which  turn  out  as  a  rule  to 
be  pure  inventions.  We  rush  for  the  morning 
paper  and  hail  everyone  we  meet  for  news. 
There  are  rumours  to-day  of  various  kinds,  but 
all  untrue  as  it  turns  out.  We  cannot  tell,  and 
probably  shall  not  know  for  some  days,  what  is 
happening  on  the  western  border,  about  Mafe- 
king  and  Kimberley.  There  are  rumours  of 
fighting,  and  we  know  that  they  are  more  or  less 
isolated. 

It  seems  as  if  the  next  five  weeks  would  be 
a  very  serious  risk.  If  we  can  hold  out,  it  will 
take  us  all  our  time  ;  and  the  Boers  know  that  it 
is  their  only  chance,  so  they  will  strain  every 
nerve  to  overcome  us  before  the  Army  Corps 
arrives. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  a  meeting  of  the 
committee  about  the  sick  and  wounded.     We 


AT   THE    RAILWAY    STATION  1 7 

had  a  telegram  from  Dundee  to  say  that  the 
miHtary  authorities  had  given  orders  for  all  the 
women  and  children  to  leave  to-day  in  con- 
sequence of  the  probability  of  attack.  There 
may  be  as  many  as  six  hundred  coming  down, 
and  probably  many  of  them  having  nowhere  to 
go  to.  The  Mayor  and  Dr.  Scott  went  straight 
off  to  the  shops  to  see  how  many  mattresses 
Marltzburg  could  produce.  I  heard  afterwards 
that  they  got  about  fifty,  but  a  great  many 
more  blankets  and  sheets.  It  is  likely  to  be 
a  very  hot  night,  and  if  there  is  a  crush  I 
daresay  they  can  manage  one  night  sleeping  in 
blankets. 

In  the  evening  I  went  to  the  station  to  see  the 
first  of  the  trains  come  in  from  Dundee,  thinking 
that,  if  there  was  any  lady  I  knew  who  was  in 
difficulty  about  a  house,  we  might  offer  a  bed  for 
the  night.  I  went  to  the  station  at  7.15  and 
was  there  till  9.30  before  the  train  came  in  !  I 
should  not  have  stayed  all  that  time,  but  there 
was  a  good  deal  going  on.  Some  squadrons  of 
the  Imperial  Light  Horse  had  just  gone  off 
amid  great  cheering.  The  half  battalion  of  the 
60th  Rifles  were  to  start.  And  all  the  men 
were  sitting  on  the  ground  outside  the  station 
and  the  officers  pacing  about  the  platform.  It 
was  a  lovely  hot  moonlight  night — so  bright 

c 


1 8  FIRST    DAYS    OF   WAR 

that  one  could  distinctly  see  the  red  houses,  red 
a  thing  which  I  have  always  thought  impossible 
in  England.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that  one 
did  not  see  colour  by  moonlight,  but  only  light 
and  shade.  But  there  was  no  doubt  about  it 
last  night.  I  got  one  of  the  subalterns  to  in- 
troduce me  to  Major  Gore-Browne,  one  of  the 
senior  officers  of  the  regiment.  I  found  he  was 
a  nephew  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
Harold  Browne.  I  noticed  him  at  the  celebra- 
tion yesterday  morning.  Then  also  there  was 
a  train  full  of  mules  and  Indian  followers  just 
disembarked  and  on  the  way  to  the  front.  So 
the  station  was  a  lively  place.  When  at  last 
the  train  came  in,  I  found  one  or  two  whom  I 
knew,  but  none  who  needed  hospitality. 

Tuesday,  Oct.  17. — Still  the  same  intense  ex- 
citement and  nothing  to  appease  it.  There  is 
still  no  fighting.  We  thought  that  the  removal 
of  the  women  from  Dundee  meant  that  the 
Boers  were  very  near  and  that  an  engagement 
was  imminent.  I  heard  from  the  General  (Sir 
George  White)  this  morning  in  answer  to  a 
letter  from  me  about  a  chaplain  for  the  camp  at 
Dundee.  As  the  military  chaplains  still  do  not 
arrive,  I  feel  I  ought  to  send  a  chaplain  to  be 
with  the  men,  not  merely  to  preach  on  Sunday, 
which  Mr.  Bailey  can  still  do.     He  replies  that 


CHAPLAINS   WANTED  1 9 

they  will  appreciate  a  visit  from  me.  But  that 
is  not  quite  what  I  mean.  I  want  some  one  to 
live  in  camp  with  them.  The  Romans  have 
got  a  priest  with  the  Dublin  Fusiliers,  and 
much  more  ought  we  to  have  one  with  our  men, 
who  are  a  far  larger  number.  So  I  have  written 
to  General  Penn  Symons,  who  is  commanding 
at  Dundee,  to  say  that  either  I  or  Twemlow  will 
be  glad  to  come  if  we  can  have  accommodation 
in  camp.  This  only  means  a  third  of  a  small 
bell-tent.     That  is  all  the  officers  have. 

In  the  afternoon  our  committee  for  the  sick 
and  wounded  met  again  at  3.  It  meets 
every  day.  There  was  not  much  to  do ;  but  we 
sent  off  to  the  camp  a  few  things  which  the 
medical  officer  had  mentioned  as  needed. 

Wednesday,  Oct.  18. — The  tension  remains — 
still  there  is  no  decisive  action.  But  this 
morning  we  had  a  new  excitement.  We  were 
told  that  Boers  had  been  seen  not  very  far 
from  Maritzburg,  and  that  the  authorities  at 
least  thought  sufficiently  gravely  of  it  to  send 
down  a  regiment  from  Ladysmith,  and  we  heard 
that  the  60th  Rifles  had  actually  arrived.  This 
was  startling.  However,  in  conversation  with 
Mr.  Shepstone  I  found  that  it  is  quite  possible 
that  the  Boers  in  question  are  a  party  of  our 
own  Natal  (Umvoti  County)  Boers,   and  that 


20  FIRST    DAYS   OF    WAR 

their  gathering  had  something  to  do  with  a  new 
church.  Still,  even  so,  it  may  possibly  have 
some  connection  with  the  movements  of  the 
enemy.  Without  committing  themselves  to 
any  hostile  action,  this  might  have  been  a  pre- 
arranged thing  on  purpose  to  accomplish  that 
which  it  has  accomplished,  viz.,  the  drawing 
away  of  a  part  of  the  Ladysmith  force,  and  so 
preparing  the  way  for  an  attack  on  the  force 
there.  Anyhow,  we  have  gone  on  quite  com- 
fortably as  usual  here,  and  have  seen  and  heard 
nothing  of  any  enemy. 

In  the  afternoon  I  again  attended  the  com- 
mittee for  the  sick  and  wounded. 

Thursday y  Oct,  19. — The  war  news  gets  more 
and  more  exciting  and  ominous.  The  Carbi- 
neers seem  to  have  been  more  or  less  seriously 
engaged  with  the  enemy  at  Bester's  yesterday. 
This  is  to  the  west  of  Ladysmith,  between  it 
and  the  Berg.  They  say  that  Taunton  (who  is 
the  agent  for  this  house  and  for  the  Union 
Co.)  was  off  his  horse  with  young  Rod  well, 
when  big  volleys  were  suddenly  fired  on  them. 
They  mounted  and  galloped  and  got  away,  but 
young  Gallwey,  the  lawyer,  son  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  is  missing.  His  horse  turned  up,  but 
not  himself. 

They  tell  me  that  there  is  a  flying  column  of 


BOERS   APPROACHING  21 

about  half  the  troops  at  Ladysmlth  under  orders 
to  come  down  here  by  road,  with  a  view  to  pro- 
tecting Maritzburg.  But  why  it  comes  by  road 
instead  of  train  I  cannot  understand. 

I  also  heard  later  on  that  there  is  a  Boer 
commando  marching  for  Maritzburg  by  the 
middle  drift  over  the  Tugela,  that  is,  Greytown 
way.  So  I  am  beginning  to  think  we  may  see 
more  of  the  fighting  here  than  at  the  front — so 
called. 

What  with  Natal  Dutchmen  possibly  joining 
the  enemy,  or  even  if  they  do  not  do  so  openly, 
helping  them  by  cutting  the  railway  or  the  tele- 
graph, we  don't  know  where  we  are.  Later  on 
news  came  to  me  privately  that  the  enemy 
have  got  hold  of  one  of  our  trains  at  Elands- 
laagte.  That  is  the  station  north  of  Lady- 
smith,  and  between  it  and  Glencoe.  They  say 
they  have  attacked  the  train  and  taken  it,  and 
in  it  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Hussars.  The 
worst  of  this  seems  to  me,  too,  to  be  that  they 
may  intrench  themselves  in  a  strong  position 
on  the  line,  and  so  stop  our  communications 
and  compel  us  to  come  out  and  attack  them  ; 
and  then  with  inferior  numbers  and  in  a  place 
of  their  choosing,  where  they  had  the  advantage 
of  the  ground,  we  might  have  a  very  tough  job, 
like  the  taking  of  Laing's  Nek  in  the  last  war. 


22  FIRST    DAYS    OF    WAR 

However,  we  can  but  wait.  Then  the  next 
piece  of  news  which  came  was  that  Galhvey's 
body  had  been  found  with  seven  bullets  in  it. 
This  I  am  specially  sceptical  about,  as  he  was 
said  to  have  been  attacked  at  an  outlying  place, 
where  it  is  very  unlikely  we  could  go  to  get  his 
body.  Indeed,  a  report  was  published  that  an 
attempt  had  been  made,  but  the  Boers  fired  on 
the  Red  Cross. 

We  are  all  in  such  a  state  of  excitement  that 
we  cannot  sit  still  long,  and  all  day  long  everyone 
repeats  the  same  question  to  everybody  else — 
''  Any  news  ?  " 

Friday,  Oct,  20. — A  pouring  wet  day — the 
poor  chaps  on  the  veldt  must  have  a  bad  time. 
I  don't  know  which  are  most  likely  to  suffer 
from  it,  their  men  or  ours.  As  they  are  ad- 
vancing they  cannot  have  their  tents  with 
them,  and  so  far  our  men  are  better  off.  The 
first  news  after  breakfast  (there  was  little  fresh 
in  the  paper)  was  that  a  battle  had  begun  at 
Dundee,  and  is  now  proceeding.  If  it  is  true  I 
think  it  is  good  news,  as  what  we  wanted  was 
that  they  should  attack  us  rather  than  go  on 
cutting  our  communications  and  running  away 
again  and  such  like.  By  a  curious  coincid- 
ence Miss  W.  had  shopping  to  do  directly  after 
breakfast,  and  came  in  with  a  special  edition 


FIGHTING    BEGUN  23 

of  the  paper  with  this  news.  Then  I  found 
that  I  too  had  business  down  the  town,  though 
I  ought  to  be  preparing  sermons  (not  an  easy 
thing  to  do  in  these  times).  When  I  went 
down  there  was  a  later  telegram  to  say  that 
after  fifteen  minutes  our  artillery  had  silenced 
theirs,  and  that  the  infantry  under  cover  of  the 
guns  were  advancing. 

But  I  believe  nothing  until  it  is  officially 
confirmed.  So  I  have  to  try  and  possess  my 
soul  in  patience  for  a  few  more  hours.  ...  No 
details  yet,  but  we  seem  to  have  had  a  great 
victory — taken  their  guns  and  killed  many. 
But  my  dear  General  (Sir  W.  Penn  Symons)  is 
wounded,  some  say  slightly,  but  some  mortally 
— God  forbid.  This  victory  relieves  our  ten- 
sion here,  as  I  don't  think  Maritzburg  will  be 
in  danger  of  attack  now. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE     FIRST     FIGHTS 

Dundee— Elandslaagte — Anxiety  for  the  Force  at  Dundee 
— Boer  Prisoners — Accounts  of  the  Wounded — Safety  of 
the  Dundee  Column. 

Maritzburg,  Saturday,  Oct.  21. — Though 
yesterday's  victory  (Dundee  or  Talana)  has  a 
little  relieved  the  tension  of  anxiety,  so  far  at 
least  as  our  actual  safety  is  concerned,  the  ex- 
citement is  still  intense  and  it  is  very  difficult  to 
settle  to  anything  in  the  way  of  sermonizing  or 
quiet  reading,  except  of  the  newspapers.  And 
all  to-day  we  are  hearing  at  how  dear  a  price 
the  victory  has  been  bought.  Poor  General 
Symons !  We  were  told  at  first  that  the  wound 
was  in  the  thigh  and  was  slight,  but  we  hear 
now  that  it  is  in  the  stomach  and  that  it  is 
feared  that  it  is  fatal.  Still  he  lives,  and  they 
say  is  brighter  this  morning.  But  we  hardly 
dare  to  hope.  Then  there  has  been  a  very 
large  percentage  of  officers  killed.  The  Boers 
seem  to  aim  at  them.     It  is  true  there  is  not 


LOSSES    AT    DUNDEE  25 

much  to  distinguish  them  in  khaki ;  but  I  sup- 
pose the  fact  that  they  carry  swords  and  wear 
a  cross-belt  is  enough.  A  lot  of  the  officers  of 
the  6oth  are  killed.  Poor  Barnet,  my  partner 
at  golf !  When  I  went  to  see  them  off  for  the 
front  I  said,  "  We  must  play  our  return  match 
when  you  come  back," — for  he  and  I  had  won 
one  and  lost  one  match  against  the  Governor 
and  Blore.  Then  there  are  many  others  whom 
we  knew.  And  there  is  one  of  the  staff 
officers  (Colonel  Sherstone)  killed.  Murray,  the 
Governor's  A.D.C.,  who  has  gone  up  as  A.D.C. 
to  General  Symons,  had  a  very  narrow  escape, 
having  his  horse  shot  under  him.  The  ladies 
here  are  of  course  in  terrible  anxiety.  Mrs. 
Bird  had  a  telegram  to  say  that  her  husband, 
the  major  who  commanded  the  Dublins,  was 
all  right,  but  we  hear  that  even  he  has  a  slight 
wound  in  the  foot.  Then  there  are  other 
causes  for  grave  anxiety.  First,  the  squadron 
of  cavalry  (i8th  Hussars)  and  a  company  of 
mounted  infantry  which  went  in  pursuit  of  the 
Boers  after  the  battle  have  not  returned,  and  it 
is  very  much  feared  they  have  been  caught  in 
a  trap.  The  only  thing  which  gives  us  hope  is 
that  if  that  were  the  case  it  would  be  almost 
certain  that  at  least  one  or  two  stragglers  would 
have  come  in.     It  is  hardly  possible  they  could 


26  THE    FIRST    FIGHTS 

have  killed  every  one.  Then  again  it  is  true 
about  the  train  that  was  captured  on  Thursday 
at  Elandslaagte.  And  the  Boers  hold  the  line 
between  Dundee  and  Ladysmith.  They  will 
plainly  have  to  be  turned  out  of  that  or  else 
supplies  will  be  cut  off  for  the  Dundee  camp. 
They  have  cut  the  wires  also.  But  very  for- 
tunately there  is  a  second  wire  via  Greytown. 
I  almost  wonder  that  has  not  been  cut  too,  for 
the  neighbourhood  of  Greytown  is  the  strong- 
hold of  the  Dutch  in  Natal,  and  even  if  the 
disloyal  Dutch  did  not  do  it,  there  are  many 
parts  of  the  line  that  must  be  within  striking 
distance  of  the  enemy.  However,  so  far  they 
have  not,  so  we  still  have  news  from  Dundee. 

I  went  into  the  Brigade  Office  to  ask  General 
Wolfe  Murray  for  news  of  General  Symons. 
All  he  could  say  was  that  the  doctors  did  not 
feel  able  to  give  any  further  opinion.  In  the 
evening  I  went  into  Government  House,  and 
there  I  saw  the  Governor  and  had  a  cup  of 
coffee  with  him,  and  heard  more  exciting  news. 
It  seems  that  all  to-day  there  has  been  another 
big  fight.  We  have  heard  nothing  definite  yet. 
It  has  been  at  Elandslaagte,  and  the  Lady- 
smith  force  under  General  White  have  been 
the  combatants  this  time.  H.  E.  tells  me  they 
have  a  complete  victory ;  but  we  wait  for  all 


ELANDSLAAGTE  27 

particulars.  We  seem  to  have  taken  more 
guns  and  stores,,  and  to  be  pursuing  the  enemy. 
This  is  a  great  blessing,  as  it  would  have  been 
very  serious  if  they  had  been  able  to  hold  their 
own  on  the  line  between  our  two  forces  and  so 
cut  our  communications.  I  have  no  idea  yet 
what  loss  this  has  involved,  nor  whether  the 
Carbineers  were  engaged.  But  this  is  not  all 
the  news.  There  is  still  terrible  anxiety,  for 
another  commando  has  appeared  at  Dundee, 
and  there  is  to  be  another  big  fight  to-morrow 
(Sunday). 

Joubert  has  come  down.  (Why  he  did  not 
attack  at  the  same  time  as  Lucas  Meyer  on 
Friday  I  cannot  think.)  This  time  the  battle 
will  be  on  the  Imparti.  I  find  I  was  mis- 
taken in  thinking  that  Friday's  battle  was  on 
that  hill.  It  was  on  a  lower  hill  called  Dundee 
Hill  to  the  east  of  the  town,  between  it  and  the 
Buffalo.  But  this  time  the  enemy  has  got  on 
to  that  big  hill  to  the  north,  which  I  was  re- 
ferring to  when  I  asked  General  Symons 
whether  it  would  not  be  a  danger  to  our  camp. 
And  His  Excellency  tells  me  they  have  brought 
down  those  two  40-pounders  which  we  heard 
they  had  put  on  the  Pogwani  Mountain.  This 
afternoon  they  have  been  firing  on  us  with 
them.     But  our  men  have  quietly  withdrawn 


28  THE    FIRST    FIGHTS 

from  the  camp  to  the  other  side  of  the  railway, 
and  have  sat  watching  them  bang  away  at  the 
deserted  camp.  How  they  have  done  this 
without  being  seen  from  the  hill-top  I  do  not 
know.  But  as  it  has  been  a  very  wet  day  they 
may  have  done  it  under  cover  of  the  mist. 
Very  likely  at  times  the  top  of  the  hill  has 
been  almost  hidden  in  mist.  We  have  not  re- 
plied as  yet,  as  it  was  too  late  to  do  anything 
effective  to-day  before  dark ;  but  the  Governor 
tells  me  the  battle  will  begin  at  daylight.  It  is 
hard  on  our  poor  chaps  after  a  big  fight  on 
Friday  to  have  to  tackle  a  new  enemy  that 
comes  to  the  scratch  fresh. 

Sunday y  Oct,  22. — Another  very  anxious  and 
trying  day.  I  have  been  to  Government  House 
three  times,  till  I  am  quite  afraid  of  exhaust- 
ing the  Governor's  patience.  So  I  must  try 
to  be  more  patient.  But  at  such  times  the 
thirst  for  news  is  like  that  of  a  dipsomaniac. 
Following  on  the  last  part  of  yesterday's  diary, 
the  news  is  small  and  mysterious,  which  makes 
one  all  the  more  anxious.  We  were  told  by 
Colonel  Hime  (the  Premier)  not  to  believe  any- 
thing we  heard,  as  there  was  no  through  com- 
munication since  7  this  morning.  But  that 
alone  makes  us  anxious.  Why  is  it  cut  off? 
and  why  these  rumours  that  things  have  gone 


ANXIETY   ABOUT   DUNDEE  29 

wrong  ?  However,  after  evening  service,  when 
I  went  for  the  last  time  to  Government  House, 
the  Governor  showed  me  a  telegram  from 
Dundee  saying  that  the  force  there  had  moved 
out  some  miles  nearer  Glencoe  and  were  in- 
trenched on  the  side  of  the  hill  out  of  range 
of  the  Boer  guns,  and  that  they  were  trying 
to  lay  on  a  telephone  in  order  to  save  the  risk 
of  journeys  to  and  from  the  Dundee  post-office. 
Now  what  can  this  mean  ?  It  may  mean  simply 
that  the  Boers  have  not  begun  the  battle  as 
we  expected  they  would  yesterday,  and  that 
meanwhile  our  men  wish  to  be  out  of  range  of 
their  guns.  It  may  be  that  they  do  not  like 
fighting  on  Sunday.  On  the  other  hand,  why 
is  it  dangerous  to  send  telegrams  or  messengers 
from  the  new  camp  to  Dundee  Post  Office, 
unless  either  they  (the  enemy)  have  pickets 
down  in  the  valley  or  they  are  still  firing  their 
big  guns.  Then  another  fear  haunts  us  that 
the  force  at  Dundee  may  be  short  of  ammuni- 
tion. Having  had  to  fight  all  Friday,  it  is  a 
very  possible  thing,  and  there  was  ammunition 
in  that  train  the  Boers  took  at  Elandslaagte. 
It  is  true  that  has  been  recovered,  but  we  have 
reason  to  believe  the  rails  have  been  taken  up 
for  some  distance,  and  it  may  not  have  been 
possible  to  get  the  ammunition  through.     And 


30  THE    FIRST    FIGHTS 

indeed  we  do  not  know  that,  in  spite  of  Elands- 
laagte,  the  Boers  have  been  quite  cleared  off  the 
country  between  that  place  and  Glencoe,  which 
is,  I  suppose,  more  than  thirty  miles.  However, 
the  fact  that  our  force  is  intrenched  in  a  safe 
place  is  a  comfort,  and  we  cannot  but  hope  that 
before  further  fighting  begins  they  will  have 
got  some  reinforcements  and  ammunition  from 
Ladysmith. 

But  now  to  resume  the  account  of  to-day. 
I  went  to  early  celebration  at  the  Garrison 
Church.  There  were  very  few  there,  but 
among  them  there  was  one  poor  young  woman 
who  was  made  a  widow  by  Friday's  fight — 
a  sergeant's  wife.  On  my  way  there  I  got  a 
letter  from  H.  E.  asking  me  to  come  round 
before  church  and  he  would  confide  the  latest 
news.  So  after  breakfast,  and  on  my  way  to 
church,  I  called.  He  gave  me  further  news 
about  yesterday's  fight  at  Elandslaagte.  Poor 
Colonel  Chisholme  has  been  killed  at  the  head 
of  his  new  Imperial  Light  Horse.  He  was  a 
very  smart  officer  who  had  just  laid  down  the 
command  of  the  5th  Lancers.  H.  E.  tells  me 
there  are  fifty  Boer  prisoners  on  their  way  down 
here.  Then  I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Acland 
Hood,  a  clergyman  from  Kimberley,  and  his  wife, 
who  is  a  sister  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton.    They 


ANXIETY   ABOUT   DUNDEE  3 1 

are  refugees  and  could  find  no  place  In  Durban. 
Then  I  went  to  church,  as  did  they  also  (St. 
Peter's),  where  I  preached  on  Belshazzar's 
Feast — as  bearing  on  the  situation — the  danger 
of  national  pride,  the  need  for  humility  and 
magnanimity.  It  was  rather  trying  work  with 
so  many  things  to  stir  one's  feelings—the  thought 
of  all  those  good  fellows  gone.  After  service 
I  went  again  to  Government  House,  and  H.  E. 
showed  me  a  long  telegram  which  had  come 
meanwhile  from  Sir  George  White,  giving  a  full 
account  of  yesterday's  battle.  The  total  of 
killed  and  wounded  is  i6o,  but  as  it  was  dark 
before  the  battle  was  over  that  is  only  a  rough 
guess.  The  Boers  seem  to  have  fought  most 
bravely ;  again  and  again  coming  up  to  the 
scratch.     It  is  terrible  work. 

Even  now  we  do  not  know  whether  the  Boers 
have  been  shelling  the  town  of  Dundee  all  day 
to-day  or  not.  It  seems  to  be  quite  at  their 
mercy,  and  I  tremble  for  poor  Bailey.  A 
single  defeat  might  be  enough  to  bring  the 
Boers  down  on  Maritzburg.  Indeed  they  would 
have  been  here  before  this  but  for  the  suc- 
cesses of  Friday  and  Saturday.  And  I  fancy 
both  were  near  things — might  easily  have  been 
defeats.  Even  now  we  do  not  know  that  the 
Boers  are  not  going  to  overwhelm  the  Dundee 


32  THE   FIRST    FIGHTS 

force ;  and  if  they  do  I  expect  the  Ladysmith 
column  would  have  to  fall  back  on  Maritzburg, 
and  we  should  have  the  war  in  the  midst  of  us 
here. 

What  would  happen  then  is  hard  to  say. 
One  can  hardly  trust  the  Boers  to  act  on  the 
methods  of  civilized  warfare.  Their  leaders 
might,  but  some  of  them  are  half  civilized. 
And  apart  from  that,  the  danger  of  shells,  if 
they  bombarded  the  town,  would  be  very  serious. 
I  think  I  should  have  to  try  and  get  the  women 
and  children  of  this  establishment  off  to  the  sea. 
In  the  afternoon  I  went  with  Colonel  and  Mrs. 
Johnston  down  to  see  the  Legislative  Build- 
ing and  to  reckon  out  how  many  beds  it  would 
hold,  and  what  rooms  can  be  made  into  offices, 
dispensaries,  surgeries,  nurse  rooms,  etc.  It  is 
a  splendid  building  and  nothing  could  be  better 
for  the  purpose.  It  is  lofty  and  cool,  and  has 
abundant  small  rooms  and  lavatories  for  all  sorts 
of  purposes. 

The  news  of  General  Symons  is  a  shade 
better,  and  seems  to  point  to  a  chance  of  re- 
covery. But  it  must  be  a  small  one,  I  fear. 
They  say  that  as  he  was  being  carried  off  the 
field  he  spoke  to  the  men,  and  said  they  were 
brave  fellows,  and  told  them  that  General 
Yule  would  take  them  through.     I  preached  at 


ANXIETY    ABOUT    DUNDEE  33 

St.  Luke's  at  7,  a  part  of  their  dedication 
festival. 

Monday,  Oct,  23. — Still  the  same  intense 
anxiety — all  the  more  acute  because  we  have  no 
news  whatever  from  the  Dundee  force.  I  fancy 
the  reason  is  that  they  have  had  to  fall  back  to 
a  position  out  of  range  of  the  big  guns  on  the 
Imparti,  and  that  now  there  are  Boer  patrols 
actually  down  in  the  valley  between  them  and 
Dundee,  and  so  it  is  a  difficult  thing  to  get 
messages  through  to  the  Dundee  post-office. 
They  have  intrenched  themselves,  we  are  told, 
so  we  hope  for  the  best.  But  you  can  imagine 
the  state  of  mind  of  the  poor  wives  of  the 
officers  up  there.  There  is  a  full  description  of 
the  Elandslaagte  fight  in  this  morning's  paper. 
It  seems  to  have  been  a  very  toughly  con- 
tested fight.  The  Gordons  say  that  Dargai 
was  child's  play  compared  with  it.  And  the 
list  of  our  killed  and  wounded  is  much  heavier 
than  the  first  guess.  There  seem  to  be  some 
forty  killed  and  over  200  wounded.  We  have 
taken  some  of  their  leading  men  prisoners, 
among  them  Schiel,  the  German. 

It  is  very  hard  to  settle  one's  mind  to  any  re- 
gular, quiet  work.  The  whole  place  is  seething. 
There  is  a  perpetual  crowd  round  ^'  The  Times" 
office,  where  the  latest  telegrams   are   posted 

D 


34  THE    FIRST    FIGHTS 

up.  In  the  evening,  when  we  got  the  third 
edition  of  **  The  Times  "  (there  are  editions 
coming  out  at  all  hours  of  the  day  now),  we 
found  one  piece  of  news  which  gave  us  a 
slender  amount  of  comfort  with  regard  to  the 
force  at  Glencoe.  It  said  that  the  troops  there 
heard  of  the  news  of  Elandslaagte  on  Sunday 
morning,  and  they  sent  out  a  troop  of  cavalry 
to  try  and  cut  off  fugitives.  Now  they  could 
not  have  done  this  if  they  had  been  very  hard 
pressed  themselves.  Part  of  this  troop  (some 
thirty  men)  got  cut  off  themselves  by  the  Boers 
and  could  not  get  back  to  the  camp  at  Glencoe, 
and  had  to  fight  their  way  all  the  way  from 
Biggarsberg  to  Ladysmith,  some  forty  miles. 
An  ambulance  train,  with  sick  and  wounded, 
was  to  come  down  to-night. 

Tuesday,  Oct.  24. — Early  this  morning  Miss 
W.  called  out  that  the  Boer  prisoners  were 
arriving.  The  jail  is  at  the  top  of  the  street, 
not  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  us,  and  the 
railway  runs  just  beyond  it.  So  they  had  stopped 
the  train  at  the  crossing,  and  were  marching 
them  straight  into  the  prison.  I  had  a  distant 
view  of  them  from  our  gate.  I  hear  they  were 
a  very  seedy-looking  lot.  One  has  to  make 
allowance  for  their  having  been  caught  in  the 
middle  of  a  fight,  and  never  having  got  a  chance 


BOER    PRISONERS  35 

of  change  of  clothes,  and  having  on  top  of  this 
had  a  night  journey.  I  don't  suppose  any  of  us 
would  look  very  much  like  Bond  Street  after 
that.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  comman- 
deered riff-raff  would  be  the  ones  who  would 
be  most  likely  to  let  themselves  be  taken,  as 
being  less  risky  than  flight,  especially  with 
Lancers  charging. 

The  news  this  morning  is  very  little  with 
regard  to  Dundee.  There  are  no  telegrams 
direct  from  there.  So  we  still  have  this  agony 
of  suspense,  not  knowing  whether  they  have 
been  cut  up,  nor  whether  they  are  retreating,  or 
whether  they  are  holding  on  to  their  in- 
trenched position  till  they  can  be  reinforced. 
Last  night  the  Governor  issued  a  proclamation 
of  martial  law  throughout  the  whole  colony. 
Before,  it  had  been  proclaimed  only  for  the 
northern  parts.  This  may  mean  that  they  have 
some  news  of  a  reverse,  and  that  they  con- 
sider Maritzburg  in  danger,  and  therefore  want 
power  to  call  out  every  able-bodied  man  to 
serve.  But  meanwhile  the  paper  this  morning 
has  a  very  graphic  account  of  the  flight  of  the 
civil  population  of  Dundee  on  Sunday  and 
Saturday  night.  And  this  is  a  little  reassuring, 
for  they  say  that  General  Yule  sent  word  to 
the  town  that  the  force  might  have  to  fall  back 


36  THE    FIRST    FIGHTS 

on  Ladysmith  in  consequence  of  Joubert's 
commando  being  in  exceptional  strength,  and 
therefore  the  troops  were  retiring  from  their 
previous  camp  and  intrenching  themselves. 
Now  this  relieves  us  from  the  fear  we  had  en- 
tertained that  the  retirement  from  the  camp  was 
a  hasty  flight  after  a  defeat.  It  seems  to  show 
that  it  was  a  deliberate  strategic  movement, 
calmly  planned  and  executed.  So  there  is  no 
special  reason  to  be  alarmed  by  it. 

One  wonders  what  they  did  with  poor 
General  Symons  and  the  other  wounded.  They 
could  not  surely  attempt  to  take  them  with 
them  from  one  camp  to  another,  and  yet  to 
leave  them  either  in  camp  or  town  would  be  to 
leave  them  exposed  to  shells.  The  Boers  seem 
to  have  been  shelling  the  town,  though  what 
damage  they  have  done  we  shall  not  know  yet. 
It  will  be  very  sad  if  they  have  destroyed  the 
new  church  and  parsonage  which  we  have  so 
lately  built  at  considerable  expense.  And  I 
don't  quite  see  where  the  war  indemnity  is  to 
come  from  if  we  are  victorious.  It  was  only 
the  Uitlanders  who  could  do  anything  in  the 
way  of  taxes.  I  am  waiting  anxiously  to 
know  whether  Bailey  was  among  those  poor 
refugees  who  had  to  walk  some  thirty  miles 
all  through  the  night  across  the  wet  veldt,  in 


NEWS    FROM    DUNDEE  37 

momentary  fear  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Boers. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  have  been  out  and 
met  a  man  from  Dundee,  a  correspondent  who 
has  a  long  account  of  their  flight  in  to-day's 
paper.  I  find  from  him  that  Mr.  Bailey  has  re- 
mained at  the  hospital  in  charge  of  the  wounded 
men.  It  is  plucky  of  him,  and  I  am  very  glad 
he  has.  They  don't  seem  to  have  fired  more 
than  four  or  five  shells  at  the  town.  And  I 
suppose  they  were  justified  in  doing  this,  inas- 
much as  the  town  guard  w^ere  called  out  and 
were  at  their  posts,  and  so  far  Dundee  was  a 
fortified  town  and  had  to  put  up  with  the  con- 
sequences. But  as  soon  as  they  knew  that 
there  were  no  fighting  men  there,  I  think  they 
stopped  firing.  This  man  tells  me  that  poor 
General  Symons  was  not  at  the  hospital  but  at 
the  camp,  and  that  he  believed  they  moved 
him  with  the  troops.  And  he  tells  me  that  it  is 
believed  he  has  already  passed  away.  In  spite 
of  our  fight  of  Saturday  It  is  reported  that  the 
Boers  are  in  stronger  possession  of  Elands- 
laagte  than  before,  many  having  come  down 
with  Joubert's  column.  So  either  General 
Yule  will  have  to  fight  his  way  through  them 
to  Ladysmith,  or  General  White  will  have  to 
fight  his  way  through  to  relieve  General  Yule. 


38  THE    FIRST    FIGHTS 

I  presume  the  former  will  be  the  plan.  I  trust 
a  simultaneous  movement  will  be  made  from 
both  sides,  and  so  the  Boers  may  be  caught  be- 
tween the  two.  I  was  glad  to  have  the  chance 
of  asking  him  exactly  where  the  troops  are  now. 
They  seem,  from  his  description,  to  be  nearer 
Dundee  than  I  thought.  It  is  anxious  work 
waiting  for  news.  Meanwhile  we  are  told  that 
they  are  continually  on  the  look-out  around 
here,  as  if  they  thought  that  at  any  moment  we 
might  have  a  descent  of  Boers  upon  us. 

About  6  General  Wolfe  Murray  came  to 
call.  He  told  me  there  had  been  another 
engagement  to-day,  a  smaller  one  than  the 
other  two,  and  fairly  successful.  It  seems  to 
have  been  in  the  same  direction  as  that  of 
Saturday,  only  a  little  nearer  Ladysmith  than 
Elandslaagte.  He  also  tells  me  that  the  Dun- 
dee force  has  been  heard  of  as  far  on  their  way 
to  Ladysmith  as  Waschbank.  This  clears  up 
the  obscure  question  of  their  movements,  and  it 
is  a  great  relief,  as  when  there  is  no  news 
coming  through  people  imagine  all  sorts  of 
disasters.  I  asked  for  permission  to  visit  the 
188  Boer  prisoners.  I  should  like  them  to  feel 
they  are  well  treated,  and  that  we  look  after 
them.  They  have  certainly  fought  most 
pluckily.     I  must  also  go  and  see  our  wounded. 


RIETFONTEIN  39 

as  Twemlow  will  have  his  hands  more  than 
full.  I  went  in  to  see  Colonel  Johnston  for  a 
minute  after  dinner,  but  found  him  trying  to 
get  a  nap  on  the  sofa,  as  he  was  up  till  3 
this  morning,  and  may  be  again  to-morrow, 
meeting  the  wounded  and  seeing  them  con- 
veyed to  the  hospital. 

Wednesday,  Oct,  25. — The  news  this  morning 
is  that  there  was  a  considerable  fight  yesterday, 
at  which  again  a  good  many  men  were  killed.  It 
would  appear  as  if  it  had  not  been  a  very  de- 
cisive affair ;  but  as  I  suppose  our  object  was  to 
do  no  more  than  was  necessary  to  keep  the 
Boers  engaged,  so  that  they  might  neither 
attack  Ladysmith  nor  the  Dundee  column  on 
its  march,  I  suppose  one  may  take  it  as  satis- 
factory. 

In  the  middle  of  the  morning  came  the  splen- 
did news,  if  it  is  true,  that  General  Symons  has 
been  brought  into  Ladysmith,  that  the  bullet 
has  been  extracted  by  means  of  the  Rontgen 
rays,  and  that  he  is  doing  well.  It  seemed 
hardly  possible  after  what  we  had  heard  before, 
and  a  few  hours  later  I  went  to  the  Governor 
and  found  that  it  is  not  true.  He  could  not 
have  got  to  Ladysmith,  seeing  the  Dundee 
column  is  not  there  yet,  and  from  a  letter  which 
has  got  through  from  Murray  (A.D.C.)  to  the 


40  THE    FIRST    FIGHTS 

Governor  there  seems  to  be  very  little  hope. 
The  Governor  told  me  that  he  had  had  a  tele- 
gram from  General  White  to  say  that  he  was 
already  in  touch  with  General  Yule  and  his 
Dundee  force.  This  is  so  far  good  news.  But 
it  is  a  bad  business  having  had  to  retire  from 
Dundee.  I  am  a  good  deal  afraid  of  what  the 
effect  may  be  on  the  natives  all  over  South 
Africa.  They  will  certainly  say :  *'  It  is  no 
good  your  talking  of  victories.  Who  is  master 
of  the  country  ?  Have  not  the  Boers  actually 
got  half  Natal  ? "  And  then  all  those  poor 
wounded  fellows — about  1 70,  I  believe — will  be 
prisoners  ;  as  they  get  better,  I  suppose  they 
will  be  carried  off  to  Pretoria,  or  else  have  to 
be  exchanged  for  those  that  we  have  taken. 

After  luncheon  I  went  to  the  camp  hospital 
to  visit  some  of  the  wounded.  First  I  went  into 
the  huts  where  some  of  the  officers  are.  I 
heard  there  was  young  Danks,  a  nephew  of 
Archdeacon  Danks,  whom  I  used  to  know  well 
in  Nottingham.  His  father  was  a  clergyman 
in  Lincolnshire,  whom  I  also  know,  though  less 
well.  He  is  in  the  Manchester  Regiment.  He 
has  been  hit  in  the  head  and  has  had  a  very 
narrow  escape.  The  bullet  has  grazed  the 
skull  all  across,  but  has  not  penetrated  it  at  all. 
He  hopes  to  be  right  again  before  very  long. 


WOUNDED    OFFICERS  4 1 

He  tells  me  he  was  unconscious  for  some  time, 
and,  like  many  more,  spent  the  night  on  the 
field.  I  wonder  how  they  survived  to  tell  the 
tale.  It  was  a  dark,  cold,  wet  night.  He  was 
in  the  Boer  camp,  and  he  got  a  blanket  over 
him.  The  fellow  in  the  next  room  was  a  young 
subaltern  in  the  Devons.  He  had  only  joined 
ten  days  before — an  early  acquaintance  with 
fighting.  He  had  only  a  wound  through  the 
fleshy  part  of  the  left  arm.  He  was  out  of  bed 
and  able  to  write.  He  was  very  full  of  the 
battle.  He  said  that  directly  they  made  a  rush 
and  lay  down  the  Boers  ceased  firing.  But  the 
moment  they  rose  again  for  another  rush  the 
bullets  came  as  thick  as  hail,  bang!  bang!  all 
over  the  place.  He  said  the  ant-heaps  were 
the  greatest  blessing.  The  men  rushed  forward 
in  short  runs  and  then  dropped  down  and 
crawled  to  an  ant-heap,  and  that  gave  them  just 
cover  enough,  and  they  got  their  shot  from 
there  before  making  another  rush. 

Then  I  went  into  another  hut  and  made  the 
acquaintance  of  a  man  whom  I  found  to  be  Major 
Wright  of  the  Gordon  Highlanders,  who  (with 
his  Colonel  Dick-Cunyngham)  had  been  on  the 
top  of  Majuba  in  the  last  war.  They  are  the 
only  two  in  the  regiment  left  who  were  there. 
He  is  the  first  man   I  have  ever  met  (except 


42  THE    FIRST    FIGHTS 

Carter  of  the  newspaper  correspondents)  who 
was  actually  there,  and  what  he  told  me  has 
slightly  corrected  my  idea  of  the  battle.  I  find 
they  went  some  little  way  over  the  crest  to 
repel  the  Boer  advance,  and  it  was  there  they 
came  in  for  such  a  hot  fire  from  the  ridges 
below.  I  hope  I  shall  get  another  talk  with 
him  some  time.  He  is  hit  in  the  foot,  and  they 
say  (though  he  did  not  tell  me  this)  that  it  is 
the  very  same  place  he  was  hit  on  Majuba. 
Then  I  went  up  to  the  hospitals  of  the  men. 
In  the  first  I  found  a  Wesleyan  parson,  so  after 
speaking  to  one  or  two  I  left  him  in  possession 
there  and  went  on  to  another  ward.  It  would 
take  too  long  to  recount  all  the  conversations. 
The  majority  of  the  men  I  talked  to  were 
Gordon  Highlanders :  one  from  Huntley,  where 
the  regiment  was  first  raised,  one  from  Aber- 
deen, one  from  Perth,  one  from  Banff,  one  from 
Glasgow,  one  from  Newcastle,  and  so  on.  Of 
course  these  are  mostly  the  slighter  wounds. 
The  gravest  could  not  be  moved  down.  Still 
some  were  pretty  bad.  Many  of  them  were 
shot  in  the  leg,  and  a  great  many  in  the  arm  or 
shoulder.  One  man  had  had  a  bullet  right 
through  his  chest,  and  yet  was  walking  about. 
They  all  talk  of  it  as  precious  hot  work — much 
worse  than  Dargai,  at  which  many  of  them  had 


WOUNDED    MEN  43 

been  present.  One  man  had  been  all  through 
that  campaign,  and  the  Chitral  as  well,  and  had 
not  been  hit  at  all  till  this  time.  Several  of 
them  had  spent  the  night  on  the  field,  though 
one  who  was  hit  in  the  arm  described  how  he 
saw  a  lantern  in  the  distance,  and  took  a  pistol 
in  his  hand  and  made  straight  for  it,  determined 
to  get  to  the  train  if  he  could,  in  spite  of  his 
wounded  arm.  The  terrible  thing  is  that  we 
have  all  this  bravery  and  loss  of  life  with  so  little 
apparent  result.  And  I  quite  expect  we  shall 
find  the  Boers  claim  all  these  actions  as  really 
victories  for  them,  as  I  fear  they  have  killed 
nearly  as  many  as  we  have  ;  and  though  they 
were  driven  off,  they  were  able  in  both  cases  to 
come  back  again,  as  we  have  not  men  enough 
to  hold  the  positions.  However,  we  have  so 
far  checked  their  advance,  and  possibly  made 
them  a  little  more  afraid  of  English  troops  than 
they  were  before.  As  an  example  of  how  bad 
things  are  with  the  refugees,  I  have  a  letter 
from  a  clergyman  dated  from  a  tent  in  the  Park 
at  Durban  asking  if  I  can  get  him  anything  to 
do.  And  yet,  though  there  are  people  camping 
out  in  all  sorts  of  wretched  places,  we  find  it 
hard  to  get  a  girl  to  help  as  under-nurse.  So 
many  of  them  consider  this  infra  dig. 

Thursday,  Oct.  26. — A  pouring  wet  day.    We 


44  THE   FIRST    FIGHTS 

are  having  much  more  rain  than  is  usual  at  this 
time  of  year.  Many  of  our  poor  fellows,  and 
the  Boers  too,  must  be  suffering  from  it,  I  fear. 
I  should  think  there  would  be  a  good  deal  of 
rheumatism  and  colds.  The  day  was  without 
much  excitement.  There  was  little  that  was 
new.  The  Governor  sent  for  me  in  the  morn- 
ing and  told  me  he  had  news  that  poor  General 
Symons  had  passed  away.  He  died  last  night, 
and  news  seems  to  have  been  sent  to  Sir  George 
White  by  General  Joubert.  It  is  a  great  grief 
to  me,  especially  after  the  false  hopes  that  had 
been  aroused  by  the  news  that  the  bullet  had 
been  extracted.  I  shall  hear  from  Bailey  some 
day  whether  it  was  the  operation  that  killed 
him,  or  whether  the  case  was  hopeless  from  the 
beginning,  as  I  imagine.  A  more  courteous, 
kindly,  bright  and  genial  man  you  could  not 
find.  I  liked  him  very  much  and  he  inspired 
one  with  confidence.  I  had  many  long  talks 
with  him  before  he  left  Maritzburg.  He  was  so 
high-minded  about  the  war,  deprecating  strongly 
the  mere  vulgar  desire  to  avenge  Majuba,  yet 
feeling  intensely  that  England's  prestige  must 
not  be  allowed  to  suffer.  Then  the  Governor 
asked  if  I  would  serve  on  a  small  committee  to 
consider  the  claims  of  other  places  besides 
Durban  and  Maritzburg  for  a  share  of  the  fund 


SAFETY    OF   THE   DUNDEE   COLUMN  45 

for  the  relief  of  refugees  which  has  been  raised 
by  the  Lord  Mayor — a  part  of  which  we  are  to 
have  here.  I  also  called  on  General  Wolfe 
Murray  to  ask  him  if  he  would  come  to  the 
memorial  service  to-morrow  night  for  those  who 
have  fallen.  We  hear  that  the  Dundee  column 
has  safely  reached  Ladysmith  and  joined 
General  White ;  but  we  are  afraid  that  the 
missing  squadron  of  Hussars  and  the  company 
of  mounted  infantry  who  went  in  pursuit  after 
the  battle  of  Talana  Hill  are  either  killed  or 
prisoners.  Nothing  seems  to  have  been  heard 
of  them.  I  hope  they  may  be  prisoners.  In 
the  evening  I  went  in  to  Colonel  Johnston, 
where  we  again  discussed  the  whole  position. 
I  never  remember  a  time  when  we  talked  so 
much  !  Everyone  is  eager  to  review  all  the 
possible  issues. 


CHAPTER   IV 

REVERSES 

A  Visit  to  the  Wounded — Boer  Prisoners — News  of  Lom- 
bard's Kop  and  Nicholson's  Nek — Ladysmith  Isolated — 
Departure  of  Family  for  the  Cape — Major  Murray's  Ac- 
count of  Talana  Hill  and  Elandslaagte. 

Maritzburg,  Saturday,  Oct,  28  (St.  Simon 
and  St.  Jude — six  years  to-day,  also  a  Satur- 
day, I  sailed  from  England  in  the  "Scot''). 
— Yesterday,  after  getting  my  English  letters 
ready,  I  paid  another  visit  to  the  sick  and 
wounded  in  the  camp.  It  was  again  wet. 
We  have  had  a  very  unusual  succession  of  wet 
days  for  this  time  of  year.  It  must  be  very  un- 
comfortable for  those  in  tents  and  worse  for 
those  who  have  none.  I  don't  fancy  the  Boers 
have  many.  I  visited  three  large  wards  ;  nearly 
all  the  men  in  them  are  wounded.  I  took  a 
large  bundle  of  books  which  I  had  cleared  out 
of  my  shelves — many  of  them  the  small  books 
which  the  S.P.C.K.  send  me  every  year,  also  a 
lot  of  old  ** Strands"  and  ''  Idlers" — a  varied  as- 


IN    THE   CAMP  HOSPITAL  47 

sortment  from  the  *'  Idler'*  to  a  tract.  The  men 
seemed  glad  to  have  them,  as  there  was  a  run 
on  them  directly  I  put  them  down.  They  seem 
mostly  on  the  mend.  I  went  in  to  see  the 
officers  too.  Danks  I  found  was  worse,  and 
not  allowed  to  see  anyone.  The  wound  being 
in  the  head,  he  has  to  be  kept  quiet,  and  they 
think  he  did  rather  too  much  the  last  day  or 
two.  I  saw  Major  Wright  of  the  Gordons 
again  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  I  made  the 
acquaintance  of  another  who  is  serving  with  the 
Gordons,  though  he  really  belongs  to  the  Argyll 
and  Sutherland  Highlanders.  He  is  very 
cheerful  and  apparently  not  badly  injured,  but 
it  is  a  marvellous  escape.  He  is  shot  in  three 
places  in  the  legs.  He  has  a  bullet-hole  right 
through  his  helmet.  He  showed  it  me.  The 
bullet  went  in  one  side  and  came  out  the  other, 
just  behind  a  piece  of  Scotch  heather  he  had 
stuck  in  it.  He  tells  me  also  they  have  counted 
about  eighteen  bullet-holes  in  his  kilt.  Of 
course  one  bullet  might  make  several  holes  in 
the  folds  of  a  kilt.  But  allowing  for  that  it  is  a 
wonder  he  is  here  to  tell  the  tale.  Then  I 
went  into  the  cavalry  mess,  where  there  are 
about  eight  officers;  three  or  four  of  them 
were  in  the  Light  Horse,  others  in  the  Gordons 
and  Devons. 


48  REVERSES 

There  is  a  very  interesting  account  in  to- 
night's paper  of  the  retreat  from  Dundee  by 
a  civilian  who  accompanied  the  troops.  It 
must  have  been  a  terrible  time,  what  with 
the  rain  and  the  difficulties  of  the  road  and 
the  want  of  sleep.  In  the  evening  we  had  a 
memorial  service  at  St.  Saviour's  for  those  who 
have  fallen.  It  was  the  burial  service  with  a 
certain  number  of  hymns  and  slight  alterations 
to  meet  the  case.  I  added  a  prayer  for  the 
wounded  at  the  end. 

This  morning  I  went  to  a  committee  of  the 
sick  and  wounded  aid.  We  appointed  a  sub- 
committee, of  which  I  was  one  (on  my  own 
volunteering),  to  actually  buy  the  things  needed 
to  equip  the  Legislative  Building  as  a  hos- 
pital. It  seems  that  after  all  the  Imperial 
authorities  want  us  to  undertake  it  and  to 
keep  it  for  wounded  Volunteers.  So  we  set 
out  at  once  to  buy  beds  and  mattresses  and 
blankets  and  crockery  and  other  things.  We 
only  got  enough  for  twenty-five  in  the  first 
instance,  as  it  is  possible  that  it  may  not  be 
needed,  though  it  is  far  more  likely  that  it  will 
be  crowded  before  we  have  done.  I  am  afraid 
the  next  action  will  be  a  very  big  one.  If  we 
should  be  beaten,  the  killed  and  wounded  would 
be  an  enormous  number,  and  even  if  we  are 


A  LULL  BEFORE  THE  STORM        49 

victorious,  it  will  probably  be  a  large  list.  I 
suppose  if  we  should  get  beaten  and  Maritzburg 
should  fall,  we  should  some  of  us  be  marched 
off  to  Pretoria  as  prisoners.  I  don't  know  if 
they  would  think  it  worth  while  to  take  a 
Bishop,  but  they  would  no  doubt  take  the 
Governor.  Perhaps  I  should  have  to  go  as  his 
chaplain!  However,  we  hope  for  a  victory. 
After  our  shopping  I  went  in  to  see  Colonel 
Johnston  to  tell  him  what  we  were  doing  and 
to  see  that  all  was  right.  I  hope  we  shall  get 
the  Legislative  Building  into  working  order  in 
a  day  or  two,  as  it  will  make  such  an  excellent 
hospital.  There  is  little  news  from  the  front 
to-day.  It  is  stated  that  the  force  went  out 
yesterday  to  a  place  a  few  miles  from  Lady- 
smith,  where  the  enemy  was  supposed  to  be,  ex- 
pecting to  have  a  battle  to-day ;  but  when  day 
broke  they  found  that  the  enemy  had  cleared 
out,  so  I  suppose  they  did  not  want  to  fight  in 
that  position,  or  they  were  not  ready,  or  they 
were  waiting  for  the  40-pounders  to  arrive  from 
Dundee.  So  I  fancy  the  battle  is  postponed 
till  Monday  or  Tuesday. 

Sunday,  Oct.  29. — An  unusually  quiet  day. 
I  think  it  must  be  the  proverbial  lull  before  the 
storm. 

Monday,  Oct.  30. — This  morning  I  had  a 
E 


50  REVERSES 

good  round  of  business  in  the  town.  I  went 
to  see  if  the  Legislative  Building  was  getting 
on  in  its  conversion  into  a  hospital.  It  seemed 
to  be  getting  ready,  and  will  make  a  beautiful 
hospital,  so  cool  and  lofty  and  quiet,  with  all 
the  appliances  handy. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  the  prison  to  visit 
the  Boer  prisoners.  All  the  first  lot  have  been 
shipped  off  to  Simonstown,  but  these  are  all 
wounded  men .  1 1  was  an  interesting  visit.  They 
could  nearly  all  speak  English,  and  most  of  them 
nearly  as  well  as  Englishmen.  They  all  came 
from  Johannesburg,  as  they  all  belonged  to  that 
commando.  There  were  very  different  types 
among  them,  and  most  of  them  seemed  very 
decent  fellows.  In  fact,  there  was  not  one  who 
did  not  receive  me  politely,  and  all  seemed  to 
appreciate  my  visit.  They  were  mostly  the 
slighter  wounds.  The  worst  could  not  be 
moved,  I  suppose.  Among  them  there  was 
one  who  had  been  bitten  by  a  snake  on  the 
campaign.  He  was  getting  better,  though  it 
was  a  puff-adder,  which  is  rather  a  bad  poison. 
Some  of  them  were  Germans,  two  were  Ame- 
ricans, and  one  or  two  were  half  English  or 
Irish.  I  think  of  the  whole  lot  the  most  belli- 
cose and  the  most  anti-English  were  the  Ame- 
ricans.    They  had  all  got  it  well  drilled  into 


AMERICAN    PRISONERS  5  I 

them  that  this  was  nothing  but  a  capitalist 
movement  pure  and  simple,  and  that  the  work- 
ing man  ought  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  Boers. 
The  Americans  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
best  Government  for  the  working  man  was  the 
Transvaal  Government.  But  one  could  also 
see  their  bias  against  England,  as  they  said 
we  wanted  to  have  the  "  Hull  world  put  into 
a  basket  that  we  could  carry  around  with  us." 
Some  of  them,  on  the  other  hand,  said  they 
had  been  forced  into  the  war  against  their 
wills,  and  that  the  whole  blame  of  it  was  on 
that  old  man  at  Pretoria.  So  "  even  so  their 
testimony  agreed  not  among  themselves."  There 
were  several  lads  of  sixteen  and  seventeen,  and 
some  oldish  men  ;  one  who  had  been  at  both 
Laings  Nek  and  Majuba.  They  all  said  that 
our  artillery  fire  was  terrible.  Many  of  them 
had  shell  wounds.  But  then  they  seemed  to 
think  that  it  was  not  a  fair  battle,  and  that 
they  were  very  plucky  to  stand  up  against  us 
at  all.  For  they  said  we  had  twenty-one  guns, 
and  they  had  two,  and  those  not  their  best.  If 
half  that  they  said  is  true,  there  is  a  poor  look- 
out for  us  to-morrow,  when  we  are  expecting 
the  biggest  fight.  They  say  that  the  Transvaal 
has  80,000  men.  They  also  say  that  the  com- 
mando we  fought  against  at  Elandslaagte  was 


52  REVERSES 

only  700  (some  said  800 ;  but  then  they  all 
agreed  that  of  these  200  ran  away  at  once). 
Then,  Instead  of  the  two  guns  which  we  fought 
against  there,  they  say  they  have  altogether 
ninety  guns,  besides  those  of  the  Free  State. 
However,  I  quite  expect  all  this  is  what  they 
have  been  told  in  order  to  keep  up  their  spirits. 
But  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  force  we  met  at 
Elandslaagte  was  a  small  one.  They  said  it 
never  was  meant  to  be  there  at  all.  That  the 
men  who  took  the  train  at  Elandslaagte  station 
were  mere  patrols,  who  were  not  meant  to  go 
so  far.  But  that  having  done  it  the  rest  of  the 
commando  was  obliged  to  move  down  to  help 
them.  Well,  it  is  anxious  work  when  we  know 
that  all  depends  on  to-morrow's  fight.  That  a 
defeat  is  by  no  means  a  very  improbable  thing, 
and  that  if  we  are  defeated  we  shall  have  the 
Boers  down  here  in  a  few  days,  and  that  as 
they  will  then  have  the  line  there  is  nothing  to 
stop  them.  In  which  case  we  may  be  prisoners, 
our  houses  may  be  looted,  and  I  suppose,  if 
there  should  be  any  opposition,  we  might  be  in 
actual  danger.  In  the  evening  I  went  round 
to  the  prison  again  with  Colonel  Johnston,  and 
then  to  the  station  to  send  off  some  ambulance 
supplies  for  the  front.  We  hear  there  has  been 
fighting  to-day,  but  several  of  the  ladies  have 


NICHOLSONS    NEK  53 

had  telegrams  to  say  that  their  husbands  are 
all  right.  We  have  no  particulars,  but  it  seems 
to  have  been  chiefly  an  artillery  fight. 

Tuesday,  Oct.  31. — The  news  of  the  fight  of 
yesterday  shows  that  it  was  anything  but  a 
small  affair.  But  the  worst  of  it  did  not  ooze 
out  till  the  second  edition  of  the  paper  about 
II.  Then  we  were  told  that  two  regiments 
had  surrendered  and  been  made  prisoners. 
There  is  a  terrible  gloom  over  the  town  at  the 
news.  It  appears,  as  you  probably  know  long 
before  this,  that  the  column  comprising  the 
Gloucesters,  the  Irish  Fusiliers,  and  the  loth 
Mountain  Battery  were  marching  out  in  the 
night  with  a  view  to  closing  in  the  enemy's 
right  flank,  w^hen  some  boulders  on  the  hillside 
started  off  the  mules  which  were  carrying  not 
only  the  guns  of  the  battery,  but  also  the  re- 
serve ammunition  of  the  infantry.  The  mules 
stampeded  right  through  the  lines  of  the  troops 
and  were  lost  in  the  darkness.  Here  they 
waited,  with  the  result  that  at  dawn  the  enemy 
began  to  attack  them,  and  the  attack  got  more 
and  more  fierce,  until  by  midday  their  ammuni- 
tion was  exhausted  and  they  had  to  surrender. 
It  is  almost  a  second  Majuba  Hill.  Only  for- 
tunately this  time,  though  absolutely  probably 
a  larger  number  than  were  beaten  at  Majuba, 


54  REVERSES 

it  was,   relatively  to  the  whole  army,  a  much 
smaller  body  of  men. 

Apart  from  this,  the  action  seems  to  have 
been  indecisive.  They  were  pounding  each 
other  with  shell  all  day,  and  it  was  only  late 
in  the  action  that  some  naval  guns  got  into 
position  and  were  able  to  silence  the  huge 
guns  of  the  enemy.  But  the  net  result  is 
to  show  that  we  have  little  chance  of  driving 
the  Boers  away  from  Ladysmith  till  more 
troops  arrive ;  and  meanwhile  they  will  no 
doubt  invest  the  town  more  and  more  closely, 
and  probably  sooner  or  later  seize  the  railway 
between  here  and  Ladysmith,  in  which  case 
the  latter  will  be  cut  off  and  soon  be  short  of 
supplies,  and  then  I  suppose  have  to  fight  its 
way  through.  Meanwhile  it  is  quite  on  the 
cards  that  the  enemy  may  send  down  a  detach- 
ment to  try  and  take  Maritzburg.  I  fancy  our 
chances  of  holding  it  must  be  very  small,  and 
the  result  of  trying  to  defend  it  will  be  to  justify 
the  Boers  in  shelling  it.  The  Governor  says 
we  may  get  guns  from  the  men-of-war  up  here. 
And  I  suppose  the  Rifle  Association  and  the 
Home  Guard  will  try  to  do  the  rest.  But 
it  will  be  a  poor  show,  as  we  have  not  got  a 
single  regular  regiment.  Well,  this  makes  the 
prospect   rather  a   serious  one.     We   are   too 


PACKING    UP  55 

near  the  camp  in  this  house  for  us  to  be  com- 
fortable if  they  should  shell  the  town.  It 
would  be  terrible  to  have  our  little  ones  in  the 
midst  of  a  bombardment. 

Wednesday y  Nov.  i. — All  Saints'  Day.     No- 
thing much  new  this  morning.  They  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  fighting  much   more  yesterday. 
I  daresay  the  Boers  want  to  bury  their  dead, 
and  perhaps  are  waiting  for  more  troops.     It 
is  a  public  holiday  here.     It  is  a  nuisance,  be- 
cause all  the  shops  are  closed,  and  one  can  do 
no  business.     At  1 1  we  had  arranged  that  the 
baby  was  to  be  baptized.    The  Dean  performed 
the  ceremony.     We  have  been  busy  packing 
since.     I  have  been  packing  and  making  a  list 
of  the  silver.     I  forgot  to  mention  that  yester- 
day I  went  up  to  the  College  about  half  a  mile 
from  here  to  measure  out  the  rooms  for  Colonel 
Johnston,  as  the  Government  think  of  offering 
it  in  certain  contingencies    as   a  hospital.      I 
found  Mr.  Clark,  the  head  master,  knew  nothing 
of  such  a  plan.     But  he  quite  understood,  and 
went  round  with  me  to  help  in  the  measure- 
ments.     Later  on    Colonel   Johnston    arrived, 
and  I  had  all  the  measurements  ready  for  him 
so  as  to  save  his  time,  which  is  more  than  full 
with  the  care  of  all  these  sick  and  wounded. 
This  evening  he  came  in  to  tell  me  that  all  the 


56  REVERSES 

arrangements  for  the  Legislative  Building  staff, 
food,  surgical  appliances,  etc.,  would  be  ready 
by  to-morrow  afternoon,  and  that  he  shall  then 
begin  sending  down  the  Volunteers. 

Thursday,  Nov,  2. — A  terrible  day  of  pack- 
ing. The  news  this  morning  is  that  they  have 
begun  to  open  artillery  fire  again  at  Ladysmith. 
But  there  are  no  details,  so  that  we  don't  know 
which  side  is  getting  the  better.  But  we 
generally  know  that  if  there  is  good  news  it 
comes  out  fast  enough.  So  I  am  afraid  it 
means  that  we  are  not  making  much  impression 
on  their  big  guns.  In  the  afternoon  I  went 
down  to  do  several  things,  and  found  that  the 
wounded  and  Volunteers  were  just  being  moved 
down  from  the  camp  to  the  Legislative  Build- 
ing ;  so  I  waited  to  see  them  in,  and  found  that 
there  were  several  small  things  which  we  had 
not  thought  of,  and  I  undertook  to  go  at  once 
and  order  them — baths,  linoleum  to  put  under 
them,  and  candles  (they  have  electric  light,  but 
might  want  some  candles  as  well).  The  evening 
paper  tells  us  that  the  Boers  have  begun  firing 
at  Colenso  and  the  big  bridge  over  the  Tugela, 
and  at  the  train  from  Ladysmith.  This  means 
that  Ladysmith  is  cut  off.  It  is  just  what  I 
supposed  would  be  their  tactics  and  is  very 
serious.    I  do  not  know  what  stores  the  garrison 


LADYSMITH    ISOLATED  57 

at  Ladysmlth  has.     But  it  stands  to  reason  that 
a  large  force  of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  men 
cannot   last  very  long  without  fresh    supplies 
both  of  food  and  ammunition.     So  that  either 
we  shall  have  to  detach  troops  enough  to  fight 
the  Boers  all  down  the  line,  or  else  the  whole 
force  will  have  to  evacuate  Ladysmith  and  fall 
back  further.     This  would  be  a  terrible  thing, 
as  the  whole  colony  is  gradually  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Boers.     On  the  other  hand,  there 
are  rumours  of  fresh  troops  arriving.     But  the 
authorities   keep   the   movement  of  troops  so 
quiet  that  we  cannot  tell  whether  it  is  true  or  not. 
Troops  were  never  more  badly  wanted.     It  will 
be  even  now  as  much  as  they  can  do  to  clear  the 
line  and  reopen  communications  with  Ladysmith. 
Friday,  Nov.  3. — I  took  some  of  the  cases  up 
to  the  goods  station  last  night  and  sent  them 
by  goods  train.     Others  I  took  up  this  morning 
to  the  platform,  the  boys  wheeling  them  in  a 
hand-cart  and  I  on  my  bicycle.     Then  at  8.30 
the  family  went  in  two  rickshaws,  and  the  rest 
of  the  luggage  in  the  hand-cart.     There  was  a 
great  crowd  on  the  station,  but  quite  as  many 
to  receive  people  coming  down  from  Ladysmith 
and  other  places.     This  particular  train  seems 
to  have  got  through  from   Ladysmith  without 
being  fired  on. 


58  REVERSES 

The  Governor's  saloon,  which  he  has  most 
kindly  lent  us,  was  attached  here,  and  all  the 
luggage  except  the  perambulator  (what  a  lot  of 
luggage  babies  involve)  could  be  placed  in  the 
saloon,  which  has  two  large  compartments. 
Coming  back  from  the  station,  I  met  Colonel 
Johnston  coming  to  the  camp  on  horseback. 
I  stopped  him  and  said  that  if  there  were  a 
convalescent  officer  who  cared  to  picnic  with 
me  here,  I  should  be  glad  to  take  one  in  and 
have  his  company.  I  shall  keep  only  the  two 
boys,  sending  the  native  girl  away,  so  things 
will  be  a  little  rough.  I  have  rather  a  head- 
ache with  the  rush  and  excitement  of  the  last 
two  days ;  but  there  is  a  considerable  sense  of 
relief  in  getting  my  treasures  out  of  the  way  of 
danger.  Of  course  I  do  not  anticipate  that  the 
Boers  will  ever  get  here  at  all,  as  I  hope  our 
troops  will  at  least  be  able  to  hold  them  till  the 
reinforcements  arrive.  But  the  trouble  is  that 
they  are  so  much  more  mobile  than  we  are. 
They,  being  all  mounted,  can  move  about  far 
faster  and  get  behind  us,  and  having  little  com- 
missariat or  transport  they  move  unimpeded. 
Colenso  is  an  example  of  this,  for  already  they 
are  miles  beyond  our  men.  And  they  are  not 
afraid  to  advance,  as  they  can  at  any  moment 
break  up  into  little  parties  and  find  their  way 


ACCOUNT    OF    TALANA    HILL  59 

back  by  many  different  roads.  We  need  to 
mount  all  our  infantry  if  we  are  to  be  a  match 
for  them.  And  I  am  afraid  many  of  our 
Tommies  would  soon  be  off  a  horse  if  they  got 
on  to  one.  Now  I  think  I  may  bring  this  dis- 
cursive and  redundant  diary  to  an  end  for  this 
week.  You  will  excuse  these  faults  when  I 
mention  that  it  is  interrupted  by  my  having  to 
go  every  few  minutes  to  see  if  the  boys  are 
cleaning  the  rooms  upstairs  properly  after  the 
chaos  of  packing. 

Saturday^  Nov,  4. — I  went  to  Government 
House,  and  Murray  gave  me  a  very  definite 
and  detailed  account  of  the  battle  of  Talana 
Hill,  and  of  General  Penn  Symons's  wound, 
and  of  the  subsequent  retreat  from  Dundee 
to  Ladysmith.  He  himself  had  a  marvellous 
escape,  as  he  was  again  and  again  under  hot  fire 
as  he  rode  about  taking  the  General's  messages. 
Let  me  see  if  I  can  make  it  plain  to  you.  First 
of  all  picture  the  position  of  Dundee. 

There  is  a  wide  flat  strath,  though  that  name 
hardly  applies  strictly,  as  the  surrounding  hills 
are  not  continuous  ranges,  but  more  or  less 
isolated  hills.  On  the  north  is  the  Imparti,  a 
steep  hill  about  1,200  feet  high,  with  the  usual 
flat  top.  It  slopes  away  to  the  west  to  let  the 
Newcastle  Road  and  the  railway  pass  north. 


r% 


6o  REVERSES 

On  the  south  of  the  strath  and  about  four 
miles  away  is  a  bigger  mountain,  called  Indu- 
meni,  about  2,500  feet  above  the  plain.  To  the 
east  lies  a  hill  called  Dundee  Hill  or  Talana,  on 
which  is  Mr.  Smith's  farm,  called  Dundee,  from 
which  the  town  has  taken  its  name.  The  road 
to  the  Transvaal  on  the  east  of  the  Buffalo  lies 
more  or  less  over  this  hill,  though  it  finds  its 
way  through  a  dip  or  nek  between  this  hill  and 
a  kopje  (smaller  conical  hill)  to  the  south  of  it. 
It  was  on  this  hill  and  kopje  that  the  battle 
took  place.  At  daybreak  the  Boer  guns  from 
the  top  of  it  opened  fire  on  our  camp.  In  a 
few  moments  our  guns  were  got  into  position 
to  reply,  and  before  long  had  for  the  time  at 
least  silenced  the  enemy's  guns.  Immediately 
the  infantry  regiments  were  got  out.  First  the 
Dublin  Fusiliers,  then  the  60th  Rifles,  and 
then  the  Irish  Fusiliers  were  to  cross  the  flat 
between  the  town  and  the  hill  in  extended 
order.  This  fiat  is  a  slight  decline  to  a  donga 
with  a  little  stream  in  it,  and  then  a  slight  rise 
to  the  foot  of  the  hill.  A  little  way  up  the  hill 
is  the  plantation  of  gum-trees  belonging  to 
Smith's  farm.  This  wood  and  a  wall  at  the  top 
of  it  gave  a  certain  amount  of  cover  to  our 
infantry.  But  all  the  way  the  fire  from  the 
enemy's  rifies  was  hot.     There  was  a  certain 


GENERAL  SYMONS  AT  TALANA       6 1 

delay  in  getting  through  the  wood,  and  the 
General,  who  was  a  little  anxious  lest  a  flank 
attack  from  the  Imparti  should  begin  (he  knew 
that  the  enemy  had  been  dragging  guns  up  it), 
sent  Murray  across  the  flat  and  up  to  the  wood 
to  see  why  they  did  not  get  on.  Murray  found 
that  the  fire  on  the  upper  side  of  the  wall  was 
so  hot  that  he  galloped  back  to  the  General, 
and  said  he  thought  the  artillery  must  continue 
to  pound  the  Boers  on  the  top  a  bit  more 
before  the  infantry  could  charge  up  the  last  and 
steepest  part  of  the  hill  above  the  wall  bound- 
ing the  wood.  Then  the  General  sent  him 
away  to  the  left  to  find  out  where  the  cavalry 
were.  When  Murray  came  back  he  found  that 
the  General  had  ridden  forward  right  up  to  the 
wood,  had  dismounted,  and  had  actually  crossed 
the  wall  at  the  top  with  a  view  to  encouraging 
the  men  to  make  the  attack,  hot  as  the  fire  was, 
so  that  at  this  moment  the  General  of  the  whole 
army  must  have  been  actually  leading  it.  This 
was  too  brave,  and  immediately  he  got  over  the 
wall  he  was  shot.  Murray  got  to  him  in  time 
to  help  him  back.  He  had  managed  to  mount 
his  horse  in  spite  of  the  wound  and  its  pain. 
They  got  him  to  Oldacre's  store  in  the  town, 
where  he  was  seen  to. 

Meanwhile  the  Dublins  had  made   one  ad- 


-t 


62  REVERSES 

vance  and  found  the  fire  too  hot  for  them,  and 
had  to  fall  back.  Directly  they  crossed  that 
wall  they  were  exposed  to  a  cross  fire  from  the 
kopje  as  well  as  from  the  top.  Another  place 
where  they  suffered  badly  was  a  little  more  to 
our  left,  where  there  was  a  sort  of  donga  run- 
ning up  the  hill,  which  seemed  to  give  a  certain 
amount  of  cover,  and  so  our  men  had  got  into 
rather  closer  formation  in  it.  But  unfortunately 
it  was  commanded  from  the  top,  where  the 
enemy  had  made  a  sort  of  sangar.  So  the 
artillery  went  on  at  the  Boers  on  the  top  and 
cleared  this  sangar.  Then  a  second  assault 
over  the  last  and  steepest  part  was  begun,  and 
a  second  time  our  men  had  to  fall  back  a  bit  as 
a  shout  was  raised  that  our  own  artillery  was 
about  to  reopen  fire,  and  so  our  men  would 
have  been  in  danger  from  it.  However,  finally 
the  position  was  rushed,  and  the  Boers  fled 
behind  the  hill. 

It  was  after  the  battle  that  our  misfortune 
took  place.  The  i8th  Hussars  had  sent  out 
some  squadrons  under  their  Colonel  (Moller)  to 
get  behind  the  mountain  and  so  cut  off  the  Boers. 
They  seem  to  have  pursued  several  parties  of 
fleeing  Boers,  though  we  cannot  be  exactly  sure 
of  their  movements.  But  at  one  or  two  places 
they  seem  to  have  got  into  dif^culties,  such  as 


CAPTURE    OF    THE    HUSSARS  63 

having  their  Maxim  stuck  in  a  donga  within  fire 
from  the  enemy.  And  ultimately  they  seem  to 
have  pursued  the  enemy  too  far  to  the  north, 
till  they  could  not  get  back  again  to  the  south 
of  Imparti,  but  had  to  try  and  make  their  way 
round  it.  It  was  here,  I  suppose,  that  they  fell 
into  the  trap,  and  probably  rode  right  into 
General  Joubert's  commando,  a  larger  force 
than  that  which  had  been  engaged  and  quite 
fresh.  So  they  had  no  chance  at  all  and  had 
to  surrender.  The  party  included  the  mounted 
infantry  company  of  the  Dublins  and  a  few  of 
the  60th  Rifles.  In  the  Dublins  was  my  young 
friend  Lemesurier,  our  next-door  neighbour 
here.  However,  report  says  they  are  being 
very  well  treated  in  Pretoria.  I  think  you 
know  that  Murray  himself  had  a  very  narrow 
escape  at  Talana  :  he  had  his  horse  shot  under 
him,  I  think,  in  the  wood.  It  was  so  badly  hit 
that  he  had  to  finish  it  with  his  pistol. 

Sunday,  Nov.  5. — Holy  Communion  at  the 
Garrison  Church  at  8.  At  1 1  I  went  to  St. 
Saviour's.  After  church  I  went  to  Govern- 
ment House  and  sat  in  the  garden  to  have  a 
chat  with  Brooke,  the  wounded  A.D.C.  of 
General  White,  who  has  come  down.  He  is 
shot  in  the  upper  joint  of  the  leg,  and  has  had 
a  splash  of  bullet  off  a  rock  in  his  eye.     He  is 


64  REVERSES 

getting  better  and  hopes  the  eye  will  not  have 
suffered  permanently. 

Still  rumours  of  big  successes  on  Thursday 
and  Friday,  but  I  fear  they  are  exaggerations. 
They  all  come  from  natives,  and  natives  always 
like  to  tell  you  what  they  think  will  please  you. 
In  the  afternoon  the  two  A.D.C.'s  came  to 
tea  with  me.  I  got  them  both  to  give 
further  particulars  of  the  battles  they  were  in. 
Brooke  was  shot  after  they  had  carried  the 
position  of  the  enemy  at  Elandslaagte.  He 
was  with  the  Gordons  on  the  ridge  they  had 
taken  ;  but  when  they  advanced  to  the  edge  of 
it  towards  other  ridges  beyond,  he  was  shot 
from  the  neighbouring  height,  and  a  good  many 
men  were  shot  at  the  same  time.  They  put 
him  behind  a  rock,  and  then  the  Boers  came  on 
again  and  our  men  were  driven  back  a  bit,  and 
it  looked  as  if  he  would  be  left  alone  to  be 
taken  prisoner.  It  was  at  this  time,  as  he  sat 
behind  the  rock,  that  he  got  the  splash  of  a 
bullet  which  hit  the  rock  and  glanced  against 
his  face  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  eye.  The 
officers  rallied  the  men  and  they  advanced 
again  and  cleared  the  Boers  off.  It  was  about 
this  time,  he  tells  me,  that  Tatham,  who  was 
acting  as  Colonial  A.D.C.  to  General  White, 
pointed  out  to  him  that  there  was  a  Boer  who 


SIR   G.    WHITE    SHOT   AT  65 

had  got  behind  the  Hne  of  the  Devons  and  was 
dehberately  potting  at  General  White.  Two 
or  three  bullets  went  very  close  to  him — very 
plucky  on  the  part  of  the  Boer,  but  luckily  for 
us  he  missed.  In  the  evening  I  went  to  the 
Garrison  Church.  To-day  we  have  the  English 
mail,  which  brought  me  an  unusually  good  lot 
of  letters. 

Monday y  Nov.  6. — In  the  evening  I  went  in 
to  the  Johnstons,  and  met  the  two  Boer  doctors 
who  are  attending  the  Boer  prisoners.  One  of 
them  is  an  Englishman.  It  was  rather  interesting 
to  meet  them  and  hear  their  view.  They  were 
quite  sure  that  the  Boers  were  treating  people 
well  at  all  the  places  which  they  had  occupied. 

I  have  a  letter  from  Prior  this  morning  to 
ask  for  help  for  Weston  on  Sunday.  I  have 
telegraphed  back  to  say  that  I  will  come  and 
preach  to  the  troops  at  Estcourt  if  he  will 
take  Weston.  I  have  been  wanting  to  preach 
to  the  Volunteers,  and  a  certain  number  of 
them  are  at  Estcourt.  I  have  preached  to  the 
regulars,  but  I  do  not  want  the  Volunteers  to 
think  that  I  am  indifferent  to  them.  They 
have  done  splendidly,  working  side  by  side  with 
the  Imperial  troops,  sharing  all  their  dangers 
and  doing  as  well.  And  they  include  lots  of  men 
who  are  leaving  their  businesses  to  go  to  pieces. 

F 


66  REVERSES 

Major  Taunton,  who  was  killed  the  other  day, 
was  a  leading  accountant  in  the  town  ;  agent  for 
this  house  and  also  for  the  Union  Company. 

Friday^  Nov,  lo. — This  has  been  an  unhappy 
day.  First  there  is  the  dreadful  blank  of  this 
deserted  house  and  the  constant  want  of  the 
touch  of  a  vanished  hand  ;  then,  to  add  to  my 
sorrow  and  loneliness,  I  have  lost  my  little 
fox  terrier.  Since  the  family  left  he  has  been 
allowed  into  the  house,  and  has  been  my  con- 
stant companion.  I  took  him  out  with  me  this 
afternoon,  and  he  follows  the  bicycle  like  a 
leech  ;  but  in  Timber  Street  a  bigger  dog  made 
a  rush  at  him  and  rolled  him  over,  and  so  we 
got  separated.  Just  at  the  end  of  the  street 
I  met  Murray  on  horseback  and  stopped  to 
speak  to  him.  Then  I  said  I  must  go  back 
and  look  for  my  puppy.  I  went  back  and  saw 
him  a  little  way  down  the  street,  and  seeing 
him  lingered  a  minute.  Then  when  I  went  he 
had  turned  the  corner.  I  looked  everywhere 
and  bicycled  up  and  down  the  street,  but  all  in 
vain.  I  felt  quite  disconsolate.  A  little  later 
I  went  down  the  town  again  to  have  another 
look,  and  failing  to  see  him  I  put  an  advertise- 
ment in  the  paper ;  but  as  I  have  to  go  away 
to-morrow  morning  I  am  very  much  afraid  I 
shall  not  see  him  again. 


CHAPTER  V 

A   VISIT    TO   ESTCOURT 

Visit  to  Estcourt— The  Mess  of  the  Dublin  Fusiliers — 
View  of  Boer  Position — Photography  in  Action — First  De- 
tachment of  the  Reinforcements — Return  to  Maritzburg. 

Estcourt,  Saturday,  Nov,  ii. — Up  early, 
breakfast  at  8,  started  by  train  at  8.45.  At 
the  station  they  refused  to  give  me  a  ticket  for 
Estcourt,  no  one  being  allowed  to  go  there  now. 
I  suppose  they  want  as  few  civilians  as  possible 
in  case  of  attack,  and  also  no  doubt  they  want 
to  keep  out  all  possible  spies.  That  is  one  of  the 
difficulties  of  this  campaign :  that  the  country 
is  swarming  with  spies,  or  with  suspected  spies, 
every  Dutchman  being  more  or  less  suspected. 
However,  I  went  to  the  superintendent  and 
promptly  got  my  ticket.  I  travelled  up  with 
Mr.  Winter,  the  Minister  of  Agriculture.  There 
has  been  little  news  for  the  last  few  days. 
General  White  is  said  to  have  fired  a  salute  on 
the  Prince's  birthday — twenty-one  guns  with 
shells  at  the  Boers — but  there  does  not  appear 


68  A   VISIT   TO    ESTCOURT 

to  have  been  any  serious  fighting.  The  Boers 
seem  still  to  be  holding  the  hills  above  Colenso 
just  across  the  Tugela  in  force.  I  expect 
they  are  fortifying  them  so  as  to  make  it  a 
terrible  place  for  our  men  when  the  time  comes 
to  advance,  and  then  they  will  also  probably 
blow  up  the  bridge  before  they  leave,  so  that 
we  shall  have  to  make  more  or  less  of  a  new 
one,  and  meanwhile  they  will  make  it  very  hot 
for  us  with  their  guns.  And  if  the  river  is  in 
flood,  as  it  may  very  likely  be  at  this  time  of 
the  year,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  get  across  till 
we  have  repaired  the  bridge. 

Sunday,  Nov,  12. — Prior  started  about  7  for 
Weston,  and  I  took  the  Celebration  which  was 
at  that  same  hour.  Colonel  Cooper  and  Major 
Bird  of  the  Dublin  Fusiliers  were  there,  and 
two  sergeants  or  corporals  and  two  ladies. 
There  are  not  many  of  the  ladies  of  Estcourt 
here :  they  have  mostly  left.  At  9.30  there 
was  the  church  parade.  The  troops  present 
were  the  Border  Regiment,  the  Durham  Light 
Infantry,  and  a  few  more  of  other  Volunteer 
regiments.  There  was  no  sort  of  music,  and 
very  little  in  the  way  of  responses,  which  made 
it  very  cold.  I  suggested  to  Prior  that  he 
should  try  to  get  some  of  the  men  together  to 
form  a  choir,  who  could  at  least  lead  the  re- 


THE  DUBLIN    FUSILIERS  69 

sponses  if  they  could  not  do  much  in  the  way 
of  hymns.  It  was  a  nice,  quiet,  cool  morning, 
so  I  hope  that  I  was  heard ;  but  it  is  very 
hard  to  overcome  the  physical  difficulties  of  a 
service  where  you  have  to  shout  in  order  to  be 
heard  at  all.  I  preached  to  them  from  the  end 
of  Hebrews  xi.  At  1 1  I  took  the  service  in 
church. 

Then  I  went  to  luncheon  with  the  Dublin 
Fusiliers.  It  was  very  nice  to  see  them  all 
(no,  alas,  not  all !)  again  after  what  they  have 
been  through — that  battle  of  Talana  Hill,  and 
the  long  march  back  to  Ladysmith  through 
rain  and  watching  for  the  enemy,  with  very 
little  sleep  and  no  dry  clothes  all  the  time. 
And  then  more  fighting  at  Ladysmith.  It  be- 
comes more  and  more  obvious  to  me  that  the 
battle  of  Lombard's  Kop  on  the  Monday  after 
the  Dundee  column  got  in  was  very  much  like 
a  disaster.  Haskard  was  out  on  picket  duty, 
so  I  did  not  see  him  then,  though  I  did  after. 
Captain  Hensley  had  two  marvellous  escapes 
at  Talana.  Twice  he  happened  to  stoop  down, 
and  a  fellow  was  shot  over  his  head  where  his 
head  would  have  been  if  he  had  been  standing 
up.  One  or  two  of  the  officers  at  mess  had 
joined  quite  lately,  and  they  had  one  or  two 
from  other  regiments  attached  to  them. 


JO  A   VISIT   TO    ESTCOURT 

The  mess  was  in  a  big  warehouse  which  they 
said  they  had  commandeered — the  table  was  a 
big  deal  one,  the  seats  were  cases  of  wooden 
laths  for  making  other  cases.  Their  beds  were 
spread  around  the  walls,  the  beds  consisting, 
by  the  way,  only  of  a  blanket.  The  luncheon 
was  not  bad,  however.  We  had  a  dish  of  mince 
and  some  vegetable  ;  there  was  a  ham  and  some 
sardines,  and  some  stewed  fruit  and  cheese — so 
what  could  one  want  more  ?  There  was  also 
beer  and  coffee  after,  served  in  tin  mugs.  Then 
after  luncheon  Colonel  Cooper  and  Major  Bird 
were  going  to  ride  round  to  the  outposts,  so  I 
asked  if  they  could  give  me  a  mount  and  let 
me  come  too.  This  they  promised  to  do,  so  at 
3  o'clock  we  started  to  ride  up  the  hill  along  the 
main  road  to  Colenso  and  Ladysmith. 

About  a  mile  up  we  found  the  first  picket 
under  Captain  Romer  of  the  Dublins  ;  then  we 
went  further  and  found  a  cavalry  vedette  just 
near  the  intrenchments  which  have  been  dug  on 
both  sides  of  the  road.  If  there  should  be  an  ad- 
vance of  the  Boers  the  vedette  would  gallop  into 
Estcourt,  and  the  pickets  would  move  forward 
to  the  intrenchments  to  hold  the  Boers  back 
till  the  troops  could  come  up  from  the  town. 
From  this  point,  which  was  on  a  high  ridge,  we 
could  see  all  the  country  right  away  to  Lady- 


THE  COUNTRY  ROUND  LADYSMITH      7 1 

smith.  We  could  see  Grobler's  Kloof  Hill, 
where  the  Boers  are,  above  Colenso,  Umbul- 
wana  Mountain  to  the  south-east  of  Ladysmith, 
where  their  big  guns  are  fixed,  and  the  hollow 
in  which  Ladysmith  lies,  though  we  could  not 
see  the  town  itself  because  of  the  hills. 

It  was  strange  to  think  that  this  sunny  and 
apparently  peaceful  stretch  of  country  contained 
thousands  of  soldiers  and  guns,  and  that,  if  the 
bombarding  were  proceeding  as  it  has  been  for 
many  days  past,  we  should  actually  have  seen 
the  puffs  of  smoke  from  the  guns.  All  seemed 
quiet  to-day.  I  don't  know  whether  the  Boers 
purposely  avoid  fighting  on  Sunday,  or  simply 
whether  it  did  not  happen  to  fall  in  with  their 
plans.  It  is  a  strange  experience  to  be  looking 
out  over  all  this  country  which  I  know  so  well, 
which  already  seems  so  homelike,  which  I  have 
ridden  over  in  search  of  the  scattered  flocks  in 
my  charge,  and  to  find  it  the  scene  of  such 
terrible  bloodshed  and  of  the  potentialities  of 
infinitely  more,  for  one  foresees  that  when  the 
advance  begins  it  will  be  a  furious  business. 
Unless  the  Boers  are  drawn  off  by  news  of  our 
advance  from  Cape  Town  through  the  Free 
State,  they  will  make  the  line  of  our  advance 
through  all  these  hills  a  perfect  shambles. 

From  this  point  we  left  the  main  Ladysmith 


72  A    VISIT    TO    ESTCOURT 

Road  and  took  to  the  veldt  in  the  direction  of 
the  road  to  Weenen,  a  little  more  to  the  south. 
We  passed  solitary  vedettes  and  then  came  to 
a  cavalry  picket.  The  horses  were  picketed 
under  cover  of  a  hill  a  little  below  the  ridge. 
Then  we  went  further,  crossing  the  Weenen 
Road,  and  came  to  a  picket  of  the  Dublins 
under  Haskard.  He  reported  his  arrange- 
ments, how  many  sentries  he  had  out,  how  he 
doubled  them  at  night,  and  what  his  plans  were 
of  communicating  with  Romer  s  picket  in  case 
of  alarm.  At  this  moment  Fairleigh,  who  had 
been  lunching  with  us,  passed  along  the  road 
with  a  considerable  patrol  of  the  Natal  Mounted 
Police,  of  which  he  is  an  Inspector,  with  orders 
to  patrol  along  the  road  further  out  towards 
Weenen.  A  messenger  came  galloping  up  a 
little  before  this  to  bring  a  message  to  Colonel 
Cooper  that  the  General  wanted  him  immedi- 
ately, so  they  galloped  off  together  to  Estcourt. 
I  left  Major  Bird  to  continue  his  round  of  the 
outposts  with  Colonel  Sitwell,  while  I  walked 
my  horse  back  talking  to  Haskard.  He  tells 
me  that  he  took  a  lot  of  photographs  during  the 
battle  of  Talana,  which  are  now  being  developed 
in  Maritzburg.  I  hope  to  see  them.  It  sounds 
rather  calm  to  be  taking  snapshots  while  men  are 
shooting  with  rifles  and  being  shot.     He  tells 


PHOTOGRAPHY    IN    ACTION  73 

me  one  view  showed  Perreau  (one  of  the  Dub- 
lin officers)  firing  at  the  Boers  over  the  bodies 
of  several  wounded  and  dead  men.  The  fact 
is  that  in  such  a  battle  there  are  considerable 
pauses — for  instance,  while  the  artillery  are 
shelling  the  position  and  so  making  it  less  im- 
possible for  the  infantry  to  advance  further — so 
that  Haskard  was  able  to  utilize  these  with  his 
pocket  camera.  Several  of  the  Dublin  officers 
left  their  swords  behind  them  and  got  hold  of 
rifles  when  men  fell,  and  so  were  less  marked 
as  targets  for  the  Boers,  and  were  able  to  do 
more  execution  themselves  than  would  have 
been  possible  with  the  officers'  usual  weapons 
— the  sword  and  pistol.  I  trotted  into  Estcourt, 
as  I  had  to  get  tea  and  prepare  another  sermon. 
There  was  a  good  congregation  at  night,  more 
than  half  being  officers  and  men  of  the  troops. 
I  preached  to  them  from  the  second  lesson, 
**  Except  a  man  be  born  again,"  etc.,  and  said 
one  could  not  help  feeling  that  such  experiences 
as  they  had  been  passing  through  must  be  a 
revelation  of  a  new  life  in  which  the  mere 
worldly  maxims  of  selfish  ease  must  be  felt  to 
be  insufficient  to  account  for  our  human  nature, 
that  there  was  a  better  life  and  a  higher  ideal 
which  such  times  as  these  brought  into  play. 
Prior  got  back  from  Weston  just  in  time  for  the 


74  A    VISIT    TO    ESTCOURT 

Evening  Service.  We  were  all  pretty  sleepy- 
after  it,  as  we  had  had  a  long  and  busy  day,  so 
we  turned  in  early.  In  the  middle  of  the  night, 
about  3  a.m.,  I  heard  some  one  knocking  at  the 
door.  I  got  up  to  open  it ;  it  turned  out  to  be 
a  message  to  Major  Butterworth  that  the  new 
General  (General  Hildyard)  was  arriving  at  5, 
and  that  he  was  to  be  at  the  station  to  meet 
him. 

Considering  that  we  have  no  artillery  here 
it  is  almost  a  wonder  that  the  Boers  have  not 
sent  down  a  small  force  to  cut  us  off.  If  they 
could  send  even  a  couple  of  large  guns,  I  expect 
we  should  be  compelled  to  retire  from  here. 
And  we  have  enormous  supplies  here  waiting 
to  be  pushed  forward  as  soon  as  ever  the  road 
can  be  reopened  to  Ladysmith.  At  Dundee 
we  had  to  leave  three  months'  provisions  for  the 
troops  in  the  hands  of  the  Boers,  and  they  might 
get  at  least  as  much  here  if  they  came.  How- 
ever, at  present  they  have  shown  no  signs  of 
doing  so. 

Monday,  Nov,  13. — Matins  at  8  and  break- 
fast after.  Then  I  went  round  the  church  and 
parsonage  to  see  the  repairs  and  additions 
Prior  has  been  enabled  to  make  out  of  the 
profits  of  the  Magazine.  Then  I  went  with 
him  to  meet  the  new  General,  as  he  had  re- 


REINFORCEMENTS    ARRIVE  75 

ceived  an  order  asking  him  to  do  so.  But  I 
found  the  General  very  busy  seeing  all  sorts  of 
people,  as  he  was  going  off  again  by  the  same 
train  that  I  am  going  by,  so  I  only  just  shook 
hands  with  him  and  said  I  might  perhaps  see 
him  again  in  the  train.  Then  I  went  to  see  a 
poor  Zululand  clergyman  who  passed  through 
Maritzburg  some  month  or  two  ago,  on  his  trek 
in  search  of  relief  from  the  consumption  he  is 
ill  of.  He  has  come  to  what  I  fear  is  a  full 
stop  here,  as  he  has  got  worse,  and  so  he  has 
settled  down  at  the  Roman  Catholic  Sanatorium, 
where  his  wife  and  baby  are  with  him,  and 
where  he  is,  I  fear,  only  waiting  for  death. 
The  Romans  have  certainly  bestowed  a  great 
boon  on  the  Colony  in  building  and  running 
these  sanatoriums  here  and  in  Durban  and 
Maritzburg. 

From  there  I  saw  the  train  arriving,  amid 
cheers  from  the  troops  in  camp,  bringing  the 
first  instalment  of  the  Army  Corps  which  we 
have  been  waiting  for  so  long  and  so  anxiously. 
I  hurried  down  so  as  to  meet  them  at  the 
station.  It  turned  out  to  be  the  West  York- 
shire Regiment.  I  watched  them  detrained 
and  drawn  up  all  along  the  village  street,  and 
then  marched  down  to  what  is  to  be  their 
camping  ground,  between  the  Border  Regiment 


76  A   VISIT   TO    ESTCOURT 

and  the  Natal  Field  Artillery.  I  called  on 
Colonel  Hinde  of  the  Border  Regiment.  He 
was  away  with  the  General,  but  I  chatted  with 
some  of  the  younger  officers,  and  then  went  to 
call  on  some  of  the  Volunteer  officers.  Among 
the  Artillery  I  found  some  whom  I  knew 
slightly.  Then  I  went  across  to  another  camp, 
and  called  on  three  officers  of  the  Imperial 
Light  Horse,  the  special  corps  which  was  raised 
chiefly  from  Uitlanders,  and  of  which  poor 
Colonel  Chisholme  was  commander.  They  tell 
me  that  they  have  lost  something  like  two-thirds 
of  their  officers  killed  and  wounded  already. 
Then  I  called  on  Major  Mackenzie,  who  is  here 
with  a  half  squadron  of  the  Carbineers.  I  had 
met  him  before.  He  is  a  brother  of  Dr.  Mac- 
kenzie of  Durban — both  of  them  great  riders 
and  polo  players. 

By  this  it  was  time  for  me  to  go  and  get  a 
snack  of  luncheon  and  catch  the  train.  Prior 
and  Major  Butterworth  saw  me  off.  The 
General  went  in  an  adjacent  carriage,  but 
only  as  far  as  Nottingham  Road,  where  Major 
Graham,  the  D.A.A.G.,  met  him.  I  believe 
they  returned  shortly  after  to  Maritzburg  by 
a  special  train.  He  came  to  speak  to  me  at 
the  station,  and  apologized  for  having  seen 
nothing  of  me,  but  he  had  had  to  write  all 


RETURN   TO    MARITZBURG  "]"] 

the  way  down,  which,  of  course,  I  could  well 
understand,  as  he  has  to  get  hold  of  all  the 
ropes  and  arrange  a  hundred  details  of  his 
command. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    BOER    RAID 

Dinner  at  Government  House;  General  Hildyard  and 
Prince  Christian  Victor — Armoured  Train  Disaster — Arrival 
of  Reinforcements  and  General  Clery — The  Boer  Raiders — 
The  Legislative  Buildings  Hospital ;  the  Armoured  Train 
Wounded — The  College  Hospital;  Wounded  from  Mooi 
River. 

Maritzburg,  Tuesday,  Nov.  14. —  In  the 
morning  I  did  a  round  of  paying  bills — the  work 
I  generally  leave  to  my  wife  !  One  interesting 
discovery  was  my  reward.  I  find  that  a  shop- 
keeper here  came  out  from  Nottingham  four 
years  ago,  where  he  had  been  for  twenty  years 
past.  It  was  very  nice  to  get  the  English  mail 
this  morning.  In  the  afternoon  I  went  down 
for  the  afternoon  paper,  and  then  called  at 
Government  House,  where  I  was  presented  to 
Prince  Christian  Victor;  and  the  Governor 
kindly  asked  me  to  dinner.  I  was  glad  to  meet 
General  Hildyard,  whom  I  had  seen  so  little 
of  at  Estcourt.  He  was  very  pleasant,  and 
seemed  to  have  been  rather  struck  by  my  say- 


ARMOURED    TRAIN   DISASTER  79 

ing  that  he  was  far  too  busy  to  be  bothered  with 
any  more  people,  and  would  therefore  say  ''  How 
do  you  do"  and  **  Good-bye."  That  seemed 
to  be  more  considerate  than  most  people  are. 
We  had  a  pleasant  evening.  General  Hild- 
yard  said  that  they  might  be  very  glad  to  ask 
for  my  services  again,  as  all  the  military  chap- 
lains were  shut  up  in  Ladysmith.  I  think  if 
they  want  me  I  ought  to  go.  When  a  third  of 
the  adult  male  population  of  Natal  is  under 
arms,  at  the  sacrifice  of  business  and  safety,  I 
think  we  ought  not  to  be  behindhand  if  we  are 
really  wanted.  Only  I  don't  want  to  go  if  I  am 
not  sure  that  it  is  a  real  call  of  duty.  If  it  is, 
I  do  not  think  it  would  do  for  the  leader  to  send 
his  lieutenants  and  stay  at  home  himself  in 
ease  and  safety. 

Wednesday,  Nov.  15. — We  have  more  bad 
news  to-day,  as  no  doubt  you  have  heard — the 
armoured  train  from  Estcourt  has  come  to 
grief.  We  are  far  too  innocent  for  these  wily 
Boers.  These  armoured  trains  seem  only  to 
be  death-traps,  and  I  cannot  see  that  they  do 
much  good.  The  scouting  is  far  better  done 
by  mounted  men,  who  are  not  limited  to  the 
one  iron  line,  but  can  scamper  away  anywhere 
if  they  find  the  enemy  approaching.  I  do  not 
know  yet  who  has  been  killed  or  taken  prisoner. 


8o  THE    BOER    RAID 

Only  three  days  ago  I  was  among  them,  and 
chatting  over  this  armoured  train  business  as  if 
it  were  merely  an  exciting  day's  sport.  The 
Volunteers  were  in  it  too,  so  there  will  be  great 
lamentations  in  Durban.  Although  troops  are 
now  arriving,  I  am  afraid  there  is  as  yet  no 
artillery ;  and  even  if  there  is  I  fear  that,  if  all 
our  guns  are  like  those  we  already  have  out 
here,  they  are  outclassed  by  the  Boers  and  will 
not  be  able  to  hold  their  own.  It  looks  still 
very  grave.  I  have  been  visiting  the  wounded 
men  in  the  Legislative  Buildings. 

Friday,  Nov,  17.  —  Since  the  disaster  to 
the  armoured  train  there  has  been  little  news 
or  excitement.  Troops  have  been  passing 
through  to-day,  including  three  batteries  of 
artillery,  which  is  good  news.  In  the  afternoon 
I  called  on  General  Clery,  who  is  to  command 
the  division  from  here  till  Sir  George  White  is 
relieved ;  but  they  said  he  was  engaged,  so  I 
left  a  card.  I  visited  the  College,  which  has 
been  turned  into  a  hospital.  They  are  taking 
the  patients  out  again,  and  bringing  them  back 
to  the  Camp  Hospital.  It  seems  there  is  not 
room  enough  at  the  College,  and  the  only 
reason  why  they  were  removed  was  in  case 
there  should  be  fighting  here,  and  I  suppose 
they  think  now  that  danger  is  past.     (That  de- 


BOERS    AT    ESTCOURT  8 1 

pends  !)  I  sent  off  a  tremendous  budget  by  the 
mail  to-day,  nearly  enough  to  make  an  ordin- 
ary number  of  the  Strand  Magazine.  My 
friends  have  remembered  me  again  since  Natal 
became  such  an  interesting  place,  and  the  mails 
have  been  bringing  big  budgets.  In  the  even- 
ing I  went  in  to  Miss  Walker's  Soldier's  Insti- 
tute opposite,  and  talked  to  a  few  of  the  men, 
including  one  lifeguardsman,  servant  to  Mr. 
Cavendish,  who  is  signalling  officer  to  General 
Clery. 

Saturday y  Nov,  i8.  —  This  morning  Mr. 
Gedge,  a  new  Army  Chaplain  who  has  arrived 
with  General  Clery,  came  to  call.  I  asked  him 
to  stay  here,  so  he  came  to  luncheon,  and  his 
soldier  servant  brought  his  goods  and  established 
him  in  our  spare  room. 

In  the  afternoon  I  took  him  to  call  at  Govern- 
ment House,  where  we  heard  that  the  Boers 
had  shown  up  at  Estcourt  and  been  fired  at  and 
driven  away  by  the  naval  gun.  I  am  always  a 
day  or  two  too  soon  ! 

Sunday,  Nov,  19. — Gedge  and  I  went  to  the 
Garrison  Church  at  8. 

The  English  mail  arrived  just  before  I 
started  for  church,  but  I  actually  had  the 
strength  of  mind  not  to  open  any  of  the  letters. 

In  the  afternoon,  after  luncheon,  at  which 
G 


82  THE    BOER    RAID 

Johnson  of  St.  Cyprian's  had  joined  us — he  is 
taking  a  holiday,  being  rather  run  down,  and 
having  an  episcopal  curate  in  the  person  of  my 
brother  of  Pretoria — I  devoured  the  letters, 
and  from  them  it  seems  certainly  more  likely 
than  it  has  ever  seemed  before  that  the  Mother 
will  come  out. 

Monday,  Nov.  20.  —  Just  before  I  started 
for  early  service  at  the  Cathedral  I  got  a  line 
from  Major  Kennedy  to  say  that  he  finds  he 
was  mistaken  in  thinking  the  2nd  Devons  are 
to  stop  here  on  the  way  through,  and  that 
they  went  to  Mooi  River  in  the  night.  So  I 
am  sorry  I  have  missed  Taylor  this  time.  But 
probably  I  shall  be  going  up  some  time  soon. 
Very  likely  I  shall  take  a  service  at  Mooi  River, 
though  one  does  not  know  a  day  ahead  what 
the  movements  will  be.  They  keep  everything 
very  dark,  because  of  spies,  who  are  all  round 
us.  I  have  been  doing  all  my  housekeeping  in 
a  fairly  regular  way.  Have  been  round  paying 
all  my  bills  and  ordering  meat,  etc.  In  the 
afternoon  I  took  Gedge  down  to  see  the  Volun- 
teer Hospital  at  the  Legislative  Building.  The 
only  officer  of  the  regulars  there  is  young 
Danks.  He  is  getting  better,  though  his  head 
is  still  bound  up.  I  have  asked  him  to  come 
and  stay  with  me  when  he  is  better  and  allowed 


BOER    RAIDERS  83 

out.     Then,  after  sending  a  telegram    to   the 
Cape  to  welcome  the  Mother,  for  I  had  a  tele- 
gram this  morning  to  say  they  were  safe  at  the 
Cape,  Mother  included,  we  went  to  tea  at  the 
Twemlows.     I  also  wrote  to  Mother.     What  a 
surprising  thing  it  is  that  she  should  really  have 
made  such  a  plunge  and  at  such  a  time.     How- 
ever, I  am  heartily  glad,  and  am  sure  she  will 
have  a  most  delightful  time  at  Highwick.     The 
flowers   and   fruits    must   be   lovely  now — the 
loquats  and  peaches  and  soon  the  grapes.     And 
it  is  seldom  uncomfortably  hot  at  the  Cape  as 
far  as  my  knowledge  goes.     I  shall  urge  them 
to  stay  on  there  for  a  good  long  time,  till  the 
heat  both  of  the  summer  and  of  the  war  is  over. 
Twemlow   had    not   come   back   from    Est- 
court,  but  was  proposing  to  come  in  the  night 
train  due  here  at  3.30  a.m.     I   think  he  will 
have   had   his  desire  and  seen   something  of 
the  Boers,  for  they  not  only  came  within  range 
of  our  guns  at  Estcourt,   but  we  see  they  are 
all  about  Highlands  and  Willow  Grange,  the 
stations  this  side  of  Estcourt.     They  are  evid- 
ently bent  on  trying  to  cut  the  line  there  too, 
and  so  to  isolate  the  force  at  Estcourt.     I  am 
sorry  to  see  they  are  on  Mr.  George  Turner's 
farm,  Warley  Common,  where  I  have  so  often 
stayed,  and  Mr.  Cope's,  where  there  is  a  girls' 


84  THE    BOER    RAID 

school.  I  wonder  whether  all  the  girls  have 
gone  to  their  homes.  I  expect  they  have.  I 
think  the  Boers  will  soon  find  they  are  getting 
a  little  too  bold  and  will  begin  to  draw  back. 
At  least  I  hope  so.  I  think  unless  we  make  a 
big  blunder,  they  must  have  reached  the  end  of 
their  tether.  It  is  getting  a  little  hard  to  bear 
to  see  them  visiting  one  after  another  of  one's 
friends  and  carrying  off  all  their  cattle  and 
horses.  They  have  been  to  the  Woodgates, 
where  we  stayed,  and  where  we  climbed  Tafel 
Kop.  I  see  his  brother.  Colonel  Woodgate,  is 
coming  out  as  brigadier  of  a  brigade  in  the  new 
division  which  Sir  Charles  Warren  is  to  com- 
mand. 

Tuesday,  Nov.  21. — Nothing  much  new  to- 
day. The  weather  yesterday  and  to-day  has 
been  intolerable  —  thundery,  close,  and  damp 
heat,  so  that  one  was  in  a  bath  of  perspiration 
all  day  long.  Up  to  now  we  have  been  having 
it  quite  cold.  I  kept  indoors  most  of  the  day. 
Twemlow  came  back  and  reported  his  ex- 
periences. He  had  reached  Estcourt  just  too 
late  to  see  the  naval  gun  fired.  He  stayed  with 
the  Dublins,  sleeping  on  a  blanket  on  the  floor 
of  their  warehouse  mess,  which  he  found  very 
hard.  He  did  what  I  did — rode  round  the  out- 
posts.    But  they  put  him  on  a  horse  which  ran 


ESTCOURT    CUT    OFF  85 

away  with  him,  and  he  was  in  danger  of  being 
shot  by  our  own  men — if  the  horse  had  carried 
him  into  the  Surrey  lines  he  might  have  been. 
Gedge  has  decided  that  Twemlow  shall  go  to 
Estcourt  meanwhile — till  the  column  starts — 
and  that  he,  Gedge,  will  go  to  Mooi  River, 
where  there  are  now  a  good  many  troops. 
When  they  start,  they  may  want  a  third — that 
is,  a  chaplain  for  each  brigade.  Then,  to  serve 
Maritzburg,  he  has  telegraphed  at  my  sug- 
gestion to  Thompson,  from  Johannesburg,  who 
is  now  in  Durban,  and  he  is  inclined  to 
accept. 

Wednesday y  Nov.  22. — This  morning  we  hear 
that  the  Boers  have  cut  the  line  this  side  of 
Estcourt.  So  I  fear  Twemlow  will  not  be  able 
to  get  to  Estcourt  according  to  Gedge's  plan. 
They  have  raided  all  the  farms  and  taken  the 
line  near  Highlands  Station.  So  Estcourt  is 
invested  as  well  as  Ladysmith.  It  seems  about 
time  that  we  began  to  do  something.  I  suppose 
they  really  will  begin  to  act  soon.  Coming 
back  from  the  Cathedral  this  morning  before 
breakfast,  I  saw  a  lot  of  officers  of  the  staff  in 
what  looked  like  heavy  marching  order,  so  per- 
haps some  are  already  on  the  move.  I  see  in 
the  paper  that  the  Boers  have  been  to  P.  D. 
Symonds's  farm,    the    Natal    Stud    Company, 


86  THE    BOER    RAID 

where  there  are  a  lot  of  valuable  racehorses 
and  stallions,  and  they  have  carried  off  ^15,000 
worth. 

An  uneventful  day.  In  the  afternoon  I 
visited  the  Legislative  Buildings  Hospital. 
The  more  one  talks  with  the  fellows  who  were 
wounded  in  the  armoured  train,  the  more  won- 
derful it  appears  that  any  of  them  got  away 
alive.  I  was  talking  to  half-a-dozen  of  them 
this  afternoon,  all  more  or  less  badly  wounded, 
one  of  them  a  railway  man,  whom  I  have  met  at 
Dundee,  a  platelayer  who  was  in  the  train.  He 
got  crushed  by  the  trucks  turning  over.  There 
was  Sergeant  Todd,  who  helped  to  save  Captain 
Wylie  by  placing  him  behind  boulders  after  he 
was  hit.  There  was  one  poor  fellow  who  was 
hit  by  a  piece  of  a  shell  in  the  thigh.  It  began 
spurting  blood,  an  artery  evidently  having  been 
cut.  He  said  the  one  doctor  who  was  with  them 
came  to  stop  the  bleeding,  and  bound  it  up, 
though  his  hands  were  shaking  all  the  time,  as 
the  shot  and  shell  crashed  and  snapped  all  round 
them.  It  stopped  a  bit,  and  then  the  engine 
came  along,  and  he  was  afraid  it  would  go  on 
and  leave  him  to  the  Boers,  so  he  struggled 
after  it,  and  got  hold  of  the  buffer  and  dragged 
himself  half  on  to  the  foot-plate,  and  so  held  on 
till  they  got  to  Frere,  and  in  doing  this  burst 


THE    WOUNDED  2>J 

his  bandage,  and  the  blood  began  to  spurt 
again.  One  wonders  how  a  man  can  live 
through  that  sort  of  thing.  Danks  is  better, 
though  not  out  yet.  They  are  well  looked  after 
in  the  hospital.  I  found  the  officers  eating 
strawberries  and  cream,  with  a  rather  pretty 
girl  making  tea  for  them.  I  don't  know  who 
she  is,  but  she  seems  to  have  taken  up  the  post 
of  general  consoler  ! 

In  the  evening  Captain  and  Mrs.  Morgan 
came  to  dinner.  Rather  bold  for  me  as  a 
bachelor  to  be  giving  dinner-parties  with  two 
native  servants.  But  they  did  well  and  we 
managed  quite  right.  ** Jeremiah"  decorated 
the  table  as  he  had  seen  Miss  Wood  do  it. 
I  superintended  the  laying  of  the  cloth,  etc., 
as  they  cannot  quite  be  trusted.  We  went  up 
afterwards  to  sit  on  the  verandah,  but  a  slight 
rain  began  which  drove  us  in.  It  has  been 
awfully  hot  for  three  days,  but  the  rain  is  now 
beginning  to  make  things  more  tolerable.  We 
still  wait  as  patiently  as  we  can  for  movement 
on  the  part  of  the  troops.  Meanwhile  the 
Boers  get  more  and  more  daring.  To-day 
they  have  been  shelling  our  camp  at  Mooi 
River,  and  looting  considerably  south  of  that, 
getting  comparatively  near  to  Maritzburg. 
They   have    visited    the    Dargle,    which  is   a 


88  THE    BOER    RAID 

bicycle  ride  from  here — you  will  remember  my 
riding  down  from  there. 

Thursday,  Nov,  23. — Still  we  wait.  There 
are  small  skirmishes  about,  but  nothing  of  any 
importance.  The  Dean  came  to  luncheon,  and 
Twemlow  to  meet  Gedge.  Twemlow  is  very 
happy  at  the  prospect  of  getting  to  the  front. 
I  don't  know  if  they  will  want  me  as  well,  but 
perhaps  I  may  go  and  have  a  Sunday  with 
them  anyhow.  Gedge  and  Twemlow  have 
decided  to  start  to-night  for  Mooi  River,  and 
Twemlow  is  to  go  on  to  Estcourt  as  soon  as  it 
is  possible  to  get  there.  But  I  doubt  if  that 
can  be  till  General  Clery's  whole  column  starts, 
as  there  seems  little  chance  of  our  driving  the 
Boers  away  till  we  take  the  offensive  on  a  big 
scale. 

In  the  afternoon  Gedge  and  I  took  a  walk 
round  the  Park  on  the  way  to  the  College 
Hospital.  There  I  visited  several  in  the  big 
ward  while  Gedge  went  to  the  small  wards. 
The  first  two  I  spoke  to  belonged  to  the  2nd 
Devon,  the  battalion  in  which  Nell's  friend 
Taylor  is.  They  had  only  just  got  to  the 
front,  so  it  is  quick  work  for  them  to  be  back 
here  wounded.  They  had  only  been  at  Mooi 
River  about  two  nights  when  they  were  shot  at 
in   the  dark  while  they  were  on  picket  duty. 


WOUNDED    FROM    MOOI    RIVER  89 

Some  Boers  came  into  them  in  the  dark  and 
the  officer  of  the  picket  called  them  to  arms, 
and  the  voice  showed  the  Boers  where  to  aim, 
and  they  fired,  with  the  result  that  one  of  these 
chaps  was  wounded  in  the  hand  and  the  side, 
and  another  was  killed,  shot  through  the  lung. 
One  of  the  men  to  whom  I  was  talking  came 
himself  from  Kentish  Town  and  knew  Lynd- 
hurst  Hall.  The  other  was  a  real  Devon,  and 
came  from  Exeter.  The  Kentish  Town  man 
was  not  wounded ;  he  has  a  sprained  ankle. 
At  another  place  I  found  a  man  in  Thorney- 
croft's  Mounted  Infantry  who  had  been  wounded 
in  Sunday's  fight  about  Mr.  Turner's.  He 
comes  from  Inverness,  but  his  real  home  was 
Glenelg,  where  his  father,  Fraser,  was  school- 
master. I  felt  quite  a  fellow-feeling  for  a  man 
from  Glenelg.  Gedge  left  at  9.30  in  a  torrent 
of  rain.  So  again  silence  reigns  in  this  lonely 
house. 

A  Happy  Christmas  and  New  Year  to  you 
all  in  spite  of  all. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    INVASION     STAYED 

General  Sir  Redvers  Buller — Service  at  the  College  Hos- 
pital— Dinner  at  Government  House — Colonial  Scouts — 
Boers  retire  on  the  Tugela — News  of  Belmont — Sister 
Charlotte. 

Maritzburg,  Saturday,  Nov.  25. — Prepared 
sermons,  wrote  letters  for  the  mail,  and  in  the 
afternoon  visited  the  hospital  at  the  College. 
Took  up  a  big  lot  of  fly-papers  which  I  had 
begged  from  Mr.  Merrick.  The  next  time  I 
came  I  found  them  all  in  use  and  much  ap- 
preciated, having  caught  thousands. 

Sunday,  Nov,  26. — I  went  to  the  Garrison 
Church  at  8  and  celebrated ;  at  1 1  I  preached 
at  St.  Peter's.  General  Sir  Redvers  Buller  was 
there  with  His  Excellency.  He  arrived  last 
night  at  11.30.  I  had  not  felt  sure  of  it  till  I 
actually  saw  him,  as  we  have  had  so  many  un- 
founded rumours.  His  A.D.C.  was  there  as  well 
as  Murray.  After  service  Murray  came  to  ask 
me  to  dine  to-night.  As  the  General  left  the 
church,    a    small    crowd  gathered  outside  and 


SERVICE    AT    THE    COLLEGE    HOSPITAL  QI 

gave  him  great  cheers.  Then  he  drove  round 
to  the  Legislative  Buildings  and  saw  the  hos- 
pital arrangements  there.  In  the  afternoon  I 
went  to  the  College  Hospital,  and  held  a  little 
service  in  one  of  the  marquees.  I  got  the 
sergeant  in  charge  to  make  the  necessary  pre- 
parations, as  Gedge  had  done  the  week  before. 
It  only  meant  moving  a  certain  number  of 
benches  in,  and  I  had  a  little  congregation  of 
about  thirty.  We  had  no  books,  so  I  could 
only  give  out  a  verse  of  a  hymn  at  a  time,  and 
we  sang  in  that  way  two  of  the  best  known — 
even  so  rather  a  poor  performance.  I  was  glad 
to  have  this  chance  of  speaking  to  them,  as  in 
visiting  it  is  difficult  to  do  more  than  merely 
chat.  They  are  too  near  to  each  other,  and 
naturally  too  shy  of  each  other  to  make  any- 
thing in  the  way  of  private  conversation  pos- 
sible. Then  I  went  back  to  tea,  and  it  was 
delightful  on  our  verandah,  as  the  day  was 
neither  too  hot  nor  too  cold.  Then  at  8  I  went 
to  Government  House  and  had  dinner  with 
the  Governor,  General  Buller,  Lord  Gerard, 
A.D.C.,  Colonel  Hime,  and  Murray,  and  two 
secretaries.  I  sat  on  H.  E.'s  left  hand  and 
General  Buller  on  his  right,  and  Lord  Gerard 
next  to  me.  Buller  had  just  got  telegrams 
about  Lord  Methuen's  second  battle  at  Graspan. 


92  THE    INVASION    STAYED 

The  men  I  preached  to  this  afternoon  were 
awfully  pleased  when  I  told  them  I  was  going 
to  dine  with  General  Duller.  They  did  not 
know  for  certain  that  he  was  really  in  Natal. 
We  hear  to-night  that  the  line  is  open  again  to 
Estcourt.  Whether  that  is  due  to  the  battle 
General  Hildyard  fought  on  Thursday,  or  to 
the  news  of  General  Buller's  arrival,  or  to  the 
accounts  coming  in  of  the  battle  of  Belmont 
we  cannot  say ;  but  we  hope  the  tide  has 
begun  to  turn,  and  that  our  innings  is  coming. 
The  Boers  have  been  making  free  with  my 
diocese  and  with  all  the  farmers'  stock  quite 
long  enough. 

Monday,  Nov.  27. — In  the  town  this  morning 
I  find  a  lot  of  fellows  from  the  country  districts 
who  have  come  in  in  answer  to  an  appeal  from 
the  Government  for  a  corps  of  scouts,  young 
farmers  who  can  supply  their  own  horses  and 
rifles,  and  act,  without  pay,  as  scouts  and  guides. 
Mr.  Frank  Gordon  of  Enon  told  me  that  he 
and  his  two  boys  were  going.  They  are  school- 
boys at  Canon  Todd's.  Really  Natal  has  played 
up  splendidly.  There  will  soon  be  hardly  any 
adult  males  left  who  are  not  fighting,  except 
just  enough  to  keep  the  Civil  Service  going. 
Two  train -loads  of  wounded  and  sick  have 
come  down,   one  with  seventy  and  the  other 


THE    BOERS   RETIRE  93 

with  eighty,  since  the  line  was  open  again  to 
Estcourt.  Of  course  a  whole  lot  of  these  chaps 
knock  up  from  the  change  of  climate  and  being 
exposed  on  wet  nights,  sometimes  without  even 
tents  to  sleep  in. 

Tuesday^  Nov.  28. — Went  as  usual  to  early 
service,  and  on  the  way  back  sent  a  telegram 
wishing  Mother  and  Cecil  many  happy  returns 
of  the  day.  I  wish  I  could  be  with  them.  There 
is  not  much  new  here.  The  enemy  is  in  full 
retreat  as  far  as  the  Tugela,  and  it  is  a  question 
whether  we  can  get  there  first  and  cut  them  off 
or  at  least  save  the  bridge,  but  I  doubt  it.  I 
fear  we  have  not  cavalry  enough.  I  am  going 
to  have  a  companion  in  my  loneliness.  Murray 
and  Major  Heath  came  to  luncheon  to-day, 
and  I  proposed  to  the  latter  that  he  should 
come  and  stay  here,  which  he  accepted.  He 
has  been  sleeping  at  the  Brigade  Office  and 
getting  his  meals  at  the  station.  In  the  after- 
noon we  had  a  meeting  of  the  committee  for 
the  sick  and  wounded,  and  I  proposed  that  we 
should  supply  the  men  in  hospital  with  daily 
papers.  I  suggested  boxes  about  the  town, 
which  might  be  cleared  every  day  of  papers 
which  people  drop  into  them.  But  the  com- 
mittee thought  that  we  might  as  well  spend  the 
money  in  buying  them  straight  out  from  the 


94  THE    INVASION    STAYED 

publishers.  So  they  voted  5^.  a  day,  and  I 
promised  to  go  and  see  how  many  I  could  get 
for  that.  I  subsequently  got  the  publishers  to 
give  us  100  for  the  5^.,  and  arranged  that  40 
should  be  sent  to  the  Camp  Hospital,  30  to  the 
College,  20  to  the  Legislative  Buildings,  and 
10  to  Grey's  Hospital.  I  think  they  will  regard 
this  as  a  great  boon,  as  what  they  all  want 
is  news  of  the  war  and  not  old  Strands  or 
Graphics. 

Wednesday,  Nov.  29.  —  Report  of  another 
big  fight — apparently  the  biggest  of  all— fought 
by  Lord  Methuen  beyond  Belmont.  But  the 
worst  of  it  is  they  seem  to  have  gained  nothing 
except  the  enemy's  position.  There  is  no  word 
of  how  many  they  killed  or  of  any  guns  taken. 
It  looks  as  if  they  might  have  it  all  to  do  again. 
In  the  afternoon  I  went  for  a  few  minutes  to 
the  College  Hospital.  In  the  evening  I  preached 
at  St.  Saviour's — at  least  it  was  hardly  a  sermon. 
It  was  a  little  account  of  the  missionary  work 
going  on  in  the  diocese.  Mr.  Clark  wanted  to 
get  a  series  of  addresses  in  Advent  on  the 
mission  work  of  the  Church  in  South  Africa. 
A  clergyman  from  Matab  el  eland  has  turned  up. 
He  was  with  Colonel  Plumer's  force,  and  was 
slightly  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  He  was 
hit  in  the  foot  by  a  bit  of  a  shell,  and  then 


SISTER   CHARLOTTE  95 

carried  off  to  Pretoria.  His  name  is  Leary. 
From  there  they  sent  him  off  to  Delagoa  Bay, 
whence  he  came  round  here.  He  has  been  to 
General  Buller  this  morning  to  ask  if  they  will 
employ  him  as  a  chaplain.  So  my  chances  of 
being  wanted  are  so  much  the  less. 

Thursday,  Nov.  30  (St.  Andrew's  Day). — 
About  6.30  I  started  for  St.  Cross,  where  I 
celebrated  at  7,  preparatory  to  the  Profession  of 
Sister  Charlotte.  They  gave  me  breakfast 
afterwards  by  myself.  Then  I  sat  in  the  garden 
for  half  an  hour  and  prepared  an  address  ;  and  at 
9  the  service  for  the  Profession  was  held.  It  was 
the  same  as  on  former  occasions.  The  Sister 
has  been  for  ten  years  a  most  devoted  worker  in 
the  society.  She  was  the  one  who  used  to  go 
all  over  the  country  begging  for  the  sisterhood 
and  orphanage.  She  even  tackled  President 
Krliger  and  got  £b  ^s.  a  year  out  of  him, 
though  I  presume  the  payment  has  lapsed  for 
the  present.  After  the  service  we  all  met  in 
the  Associates'  room,  and  I  had  a  long  talk 
with  Mrs.  Marling,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  officers 
of  the  1 8th  Hussars.  She  was  in  Ladysmith 
up  to  the  moment  that  it  was  closed,  being 
there  all  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Lombard's 
Kop.  And  she  heard  the  shells  flying  over- 
head all  day  long.     We  see  to-day  by  a  re- 


96  THE    INVASION    STAYED 

porter's  news,  who  has  run  the  gauntlet  of  the 
Boer  Hnes,  that  there  have  been  odd  casual- 
ties from  these  daily  shells,  and  among  them 
is  recorded  the  death  of  Dr.  Stark.  In  the 
afternoon  I  went  again  to  the  hospital  on  pur- 
pose to  see  a  young  fellow  who  was  in  a  good 
deal  of  trouble  yesterday  because  Sir  W. 
MacCormac  had  been  round  and  had  said  that 
he  must  lose  his  leg.  He  had  a  bad  smash  in 
the  thigh,  and  I  know  they  were  trying  to 
restore  feeling  to  the  foot  by  hot  bottles.  I 
found,  however,  that  he  had  been  taken  up  to 
the  Camp  Hospital,  that  the  amputation  might 
be  done  this  afternoon  ;  so  I  must  go  and  find 
him  out  there  to-morrow. 

I  have  got  a  telegram  from  Gedge  asking 
me  to  go  to  Mooi  River  to  be  acting-chaplain 
with  Lyttelton's  Brigade  ;  but  this  morning, 
just  after  I  had  got  that,  another  chaplain 
turned  up  from  England. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

A    WEEK     END    IN     CAMP 

Start  for  the  Front  as  Acting- Chaplain — To  Nottingham 
Road  and  Mooi  River — A  Cricket  Match — Church  Parade 
— Evening  Service — Return  Home. 

Nottingham  Road,  Friday,  Dec,  i. — Major 
Heath  kindly  went  over  to  the  Brigade  Office 
before  breakfast  to  get  me  a  warrant,  which 
means  a  free  ticket  by  the  railway.  I  have 
left  the  two  native  boys  to  take  care  of  my 
guest.  I  hope  they  will.  One  of  them,  Harli, 
wants  to  go,  I  objected,  as  I  had  raised  his 
wages  on  condition  that  he  should  stay ;  but 
his  old  mistress  has  written  to  say  he  wants 
to  go  back  to  her,  and  as  one  of  my  old  boys 
has  turned  up  and  says  he  wants  to  come  back 
to  me  in  three  weeks'  time,  it  works  out  all 
right.  I  started  at  8.45,  though  the  train 
was  really  later.  The  station  was  very  busy 
with  the  arrival  of  the  Connaught  Rangers 
(drawn  up  outside)  and  another  battalion  of  the 
Dublin  Fusiliers.    These  form  part  of  the  Irish 

H 


98  A    WEEK    END    IN    CAMP 

Brigade  (the  7th,  I  think),  which  is  to  be  under 
General  Hart.  Meanwhile  these  seem  to  be 
stopping  in  Maritzburg. 

I  travelled  with  Mr.  Hill,  the  newly  arrived 
chaplain.  We  had  a  compartment  to  ourselves. 
Major  Gardner,  who  was  in  the  next  carriage, 
joined  us  part  of  the  time.  He  is  going  up  to 
Hidcot,  to  Lloyd's  Farm,  to  see  in  what  state  it 
has  been  left  since  the  Boers  occupied  it.  This 
was  where  the  Willow  Grange  fight  was  last 
week.  At  Hilton  Road  we  talked  to  a  sergeant 
of  the  South  African  Light  Horse.  This  is 
another  irregular  regiment  which  has  been 
raised  at  Cape  Town  from  Uitlanders  and 
others.  They  have  sent  them  on  here^  pre- 
sumably because  we  are  so  short  of  mounted 
men.  They  are  at  Hilton  Road  just  now,  but 
some  of  them  (one  squadron,  I  think)  are  march- 
ing to-day  as  far  as  Balgowan.  We  passed 
them  soon  after  at  Dargle  Road.  They  wear 
the  regulation  khaki  which  regulars  and 
Volunteers  alike  are  fitted  with.  But  in  their 
slouch  hats  they  have  black  cockfeathers. 

At  Nottingham  Road  I  found  there  was  time 
to  go  on  to  Mooi  River,  have  an  hour  and  ten 
minutes  there,  and  come  back  here  by  3  o'clock. 
So  I  did  this.  Hill  and  I  walked  up  the  hill  to 
General  Lyttelton's  tent,  and  I  explained  to  him 


AT    NOTTINGHAM    ROAD  99 

that  I  had  been  put  into  orders  as  acting- 
chaplain  to  his  brigade,  but  that  Mr.  Hill  had 
turned  up  unexpectedly  and  cut  me  out.  I 
found  him  at  lunch  with  three  staff  officers  in  a 
little  wood  and  iron  house  close  to  their  tents : 
whether  put  up  on  purpose  or  happening  to  be 
there  I  don't  know,  but  probably  the  latter. 
He  seemed  to  think  there  might  still  be  work 
enough  for  both  of  us  if  I  liked  to  stay,  but  I 
told  him  it  had  been  arranged  that  I  should  go 
to  Nottingham  Road  for  this  Sunday.  So  then 
we  went  back  to  the  station  and  had  luncheon 
at  the  hotel,  and  then  I  got  the  down  train  at 
2.IO  and  reached  Nottingham  Road  again  at 
2.50. 

I  went  to  call  on  the  Colonel  of  the  Somer- 
set Light  Infantry.  He  is  Colonel  Gallwey, 
brother  of  the  Colonel  Gallwey,  R.A.M.C., 
who  is  living  next  door  to  me  in  Maritzburg, 
and  cousin  of  Sir  Michael,  the  Chief  Justice. 
He  introduced  me  to  his  adjutant,  Captain 
Swayne,  and  we  fixed  up  the  hour  of  service 
to-morrow.  And  I  found  he  had  already  been 
arranging  about  hymns ;  they  have  something 
of  a  band,  and  he  had  got  hold  of  a  certain 
number  of  books — many  more  than  we  had 
either  at  Estcourt  or  Dundee.  Then  I  asked 
him  to  let  me   know  if  there  would   be  any 


lOO  A   WEEK    END    IN    CAMP 

communicants  if  I  had  a  service  at  7.30  in 
the  hotel.  He  promised  to  find  out,  and  later 
on  he  sent  me  word  that  there  would  be  three 
at  the  least.  Then  the  Colonel  and  I  walked 
up  to  the  cricket  ground,  where  the  regiment 
was  playing  a  match  against  the  farmers.  The 
latter  have  been  called  out  as  scouts  for  the  last 
fortnight  and  have  to-day  been  disbanded  for 
the  present  by  the  General's  orders,  so  as  to 
allow  them  to  look  after  their  farms  till  they  are 
wanted  again.  I  met  several  I  knew.  They 
are  really  as  useful  as  any,  as  they  are,  like  the 
Boers,  good  riders,  good  shots,  and  know  the 
country.  I  find  this  regiment,  the  Somerset 
Light  Infantry,  came  out  on  the  *'  Briton." 
They  won  their  match  by  ten  runs. 

Advent  Sunday,  Dec,  3. — I  had  arranged 
for  Holy  Communion  in  a  sitting-room  of  the 
hotel.  About  a  dozen  officers  and  men  turned 
up,  so  that  with  Mrs.  Tucker  and  young  Mit- 
chell-Innes  (who  lives  at  Elandslaagte  and  is 
also  a  refugee)  the  little  room  was  crammed. 
We  had  arranged  for  the  church  parade  to  be 
at  II.  I  suggested  that  the  sun  might  be 
rather  powerful  then,  but  they  did  not  think  it 
would  matter,  and  it  gave  the  country  people 
round  the  chance  of  coming  in.  I  woke  this 
morning  with   a   sore  eye   and  a  threatening 


A    CHURCH    PARADE  lOl 

of  headache.  I  robed  in  the  Colonel's  tent,  and 
then  walked  to  the  three-sided  square  they  had 
formed  with  drums  in  the  middle.  The  sun 
was  so  strong  that  I  wore  my  white  sun 
helmet  all  through  the  service.  Even  so  the 
bright  light  made  my  sore  eye  water  badly. 
I  had  to  hold  my  hand  in  front  of  it  part  of  the 
time.  The  service  went  well — there  was  a  large 
muster  of  men  and  some  ten  or  a  dozen  civilians. 
I  preached  from  the  Epistle  for  the  day,  *'  The 
night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand,"  etc.  We 
had  two  hymns,  and  finished  up  with  *'  God  save 
the  Queen."  My  eye  was  so  sore  that  I  let  one 
of  the  medical  officers  look  at  it.  He  put  in 
a  cocaine  tabloid  and  put  on  a  wet  pad  and  a 
bandage,  so  I  went  away  looking  as  if  I  had 
been  in  action. 

One  of  the  men  came  up  to  me  directly 
after  service,  and  asked  if  I  would  hold 
an  evening  service.  I  said  I  would  gladly,  if 
we  could  get  the  little  Presbyterian  chapel, 
which  is  the  only  place  of  worship  here.  (We 
use  it  alternately  with  them.)  After  luncheon 
two  of  the  officers  came  to  ask  the  same  ques- 
tion. It  was  nice  to  find  they  wished  it.  So  I 
went  round  to  the  adjutant  and  asked  him  to 
announce  that  it  would  be  at  5.30.  Then  I 
went  back  to  try  and  sleep,  for  my  head  was 


tbi  A    WEEK   END    IN    CAMP 

very  bad  and  it  was  very  hot.  It  was  a  nuisance 
to  have  a  headache  on  what  would  otherwise 
have  been  so  satisfactory  a  day.  At  5.30,  un- 
fortunately, the  band  came  to  play  in  front  of 
the  hotel,  which  proved  a  counter-attraction  to 
the  service.  Besides  which,  many  of  the  of- 
ficers and  civilians  had  not  heard  of  the 
service.  Still,  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  little 
chapel  was  quite  full,  about  fifty  soldiers  turn- 
ing up,  not  a  single  woman  or  civilian.  We 
had  three  hymns  which  I  started,  and  I  preached 
from  the  second  lesson,  on  our  Lord's  washing 
the  Disciples'  feet. 

Then  I  came  back  and  chatted  with  some  of 
the  men,  who  were  sitting  in  scores  on  the  grass 
in  front  of  the  hotel  listening  to  the  band.  I 
am  very  glad  I  came  up,  seeing  the  way  the 
men  responded. 

Monday,  Dec.  4. — After  breakfast,  went  round 
to  the  hospital  tents.  But  very  few  of  them 
were  inhabited.  The  South  African  Light 
Horse  moved  on  this  morning,  but  left  two  of 
their  number  in  hospital,  and  there  were  five  of 
the  Somersets.  None  very  bad.  They  send 
all  they  can  off  to  Maritzburg.  It  is  wet  this 
morning,  and  having  to  walk  through  long  grass 
to  the  tents  made  it  necessary  to  get  shoes  and 
gaiters  dried  before  the  return  journey. 


SAILORS    FOR  THE    FRONT  IO3 

Luncheon  in  the  hotel,  and  then  at  2.45 
started  back  to  Marltzburg.  Just  before  we 
started  an  up  train  arrived,  carrying  a  detach- 
ment of  naval  men  from  H.M.S.  Terrible  with 
four  guns.  I  spoke  to  one  of  the  officers.  It  is 
rumoured  that  General  Buller  starts  to-night, 
which  means,  if  true,  that  there  will  be  a  big 
battle  very  soon.  I  found  out  afterwards  that 
it  is  not  quite  true.  His  baggage  is  going  up, 
but  he  not  yet.  However,  I  fancy  nearly  all 
the  troops  have  arrived  now.  I  had  the  car- 
riage to  myself  nearly  all  the  way  down.  Wet 
all  day.  Arriving  at  home,  I  found  that  Major 
Heath  had  got  on  all  right  in  my  absence. 
There  were  letters  waiting  for  me. 


CHAPTER    IX 

VICISSITUDES     OF     WAR 

Visits  to  the  Hospitals — The  Corps  of  Stretcher-Bearers 
— A  Successful  Sortie  from  Ladysmith — A  Confirmation  at 
the  Cathedral — The  Reverse  at  Stormberg — Visit  to  the 
Camp  Hospital — Reports  of  Magersfontein — Dutch  and 
English  Schoolgirls. 

Maritzburg,  Tuesday,  Dec.  5. — All  right  this 
morning.  Headache  quite  cleared  away.  I  am 
still  pretty  slack  in  Maritzburg.  None  of  the 
clergy  trouble  me  with  letters  now.  They  have 
all  so  much  else  to  think  of.  And  travelling 
is  no  use — half  the  diocese  under  water,  so 
to  speak,  and  the  other  too  preoccupied  to 
be  able  to  give  their  thoughts  to  Bishops  or 
sermons. 

I  have  been  telegraphing  to  General  Lyttel- 
ton  and  Gedge  as  to  printing  hymn  papers 
which  the  former  wants.  It  is  nice  when  a 
General  cares  about  these  things  for  his  men. 
Gedge  has  some  printed  somewhere,  but  he 
cannot  get  at  them.     He  asks  if  I  can  go  to 


A   CONVALESCENT    HOME  IO5 

Estcourt  next  Sunday,  but  I  am  obliged  to  tell 
him  I  cannot,  as  I  have  a  Confirmation  in  Maritz- 
burg,  for  which  I  have  been  preparing  the 
St.  Anne's  girls  so  long.  In  the  afternoon  I 
went  up  to  the  Camp  Hospital  to  see  the  poor 
fellow  who  had  his  leg  off  a  few  days  ago.  The 
doctors  were  just  dressing  it,  which  is  a  bad 
time  for  him  ;  but  they  speak  well  of  him  and 
say  that  he  is  going  to  pull  through,  they  hope. 
This  is  more  than  they  thought  a  few  days 
ago. 

Wednesday,  Dec,  6. — Another  uninteresting 
day.  Wrote  letters  all  the  morning,  reorgan- 
izing the  Diocesan  Magazine  for  next  year. 
In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  call  on  Mrs.  Gunning 
and  Mrs.  Graham,  and  to  see  their  Convalescent 
Home.  Mrs.  Davis,  the  wife  of  the  proprietor 
of  **  The  Witness,"  has  given  part  of  her  house 
for  the  purpose.  She  is  living  in  Durban.  Mrs. 
Gunning  is  the  widow  of  the  Colonel  of  the  first 
60th  Rifles  who  fell  at  Talana.  Mrs.  Graham 
is  wife  of  Major  Graham,  a  staff  officer,  late 
D.A.A.G.  under  General  Symons.  They  have 
started  this  Home  together  for  convalescent 
officers. 

Thursday,  Dec,  7. — Very  hot.  In  the  after- 
noon I  visited  the  patients  in  the  Legislative 
Building.     I  found  one  man  of  the  Carbineers 


I06  VICISSITUDES    OF   WAR 

is  a  brother  of  a  young  curate  whom  I  met  In 
East  London  last  year.  I  promised  him  that  I 
would  look  up  his  brother  when  I  was  in  his 
neighbourhood.  I  little  thought  then  that  I 
should  meet  him  as  a  wounded  soldier  in  hospital. 

Danks  is  still  there.  They  will  not  let  him 
go  till  his  head  needs  no  more  dressing.  When 
he  goes  I  expect  they  will  send  him  to  Mrs. 
Gunning  and  Mrs.  Graham.  I  had  nice  chats 
with  several  of  them.  The  armoured  train 
men  seem  on  the  whole  to  have  got  on  well. 
They  are  mostly  getting  about  again.  There 
is  one  poor  chap  who  was  wounded  at  Elands- 
laagte  who  is  still  very  bad,  and  it  is  about 
equal  chances  whether  he  lives  or  dies.  He  is 
shot  through  the  lung.  I  hear  that  he  himself 
once  intended  to  take  orders.  His  brother,  he 
told  me  the  other  day,  was  one  of  the  curates 
of  the  parish  church  of  Leeds.  In  the  evening 
I  dined  with  the  Johnstons,  to  meet  Sir  William 
MacCormac. 

Sahcrday^  Dec.  9.  —  At  a  moment's  notice 
they  have  started  the  enrolment  of  a  corps  of 
stretcher-bearers,  because  it  seems  likely  that 
the  great  battle  may  be  fought  at  a  distance 
from  the  railway,  and  therefore  they  may  have  to 
carry  the  wounded  men  a  long  way.  So  they 
have  advertised  for — I  believe — 2,400  men,  and 


THE   stretcher-bearers'    CORPS  I07 

there  seems  to  be  no  difficulty  in  getting  them. 
Seeing  that  already  about  a  quarter  of  the  adult 
English  population  of  Natal  is  under  arms,  this 
is  remarkable,  but  it  shows  what  crowds  of  re- 
fugees we  have.  They  are  offered  5^-.  a  day, 
and  there  is  to  be  an  officer  to  every  twenty-four 
men,  he  getting  los.  a  day.  The  whole  is  under 
Imperial  officers.  It  is  amusing  to  find  the 
officers  composed  of  all  sorts  of  men  who  cannot 
otherwise  get  up  to  the  front :  for  instance,  men 
who  came  down  wounded  and  now  cannot  re- 
join their  regiments  in  Ladysmith.  The  head 
of  it  all  is  Colonel  Stuart  Wortley  of  the  60th 
Rifles.  A  number  of  them  were  paraded  in 
front  of  this  house  this  morning.  They  are  a 
mixed  lot,  some  of  them  looking  like  well-to-do 
business  men,  and  others  a  very  rough  set  from 
the  Transvaal.  They  will  have,  of  course,  to 
run  certain  risks  in  carrying  men  off  the  battle- 
field ;  but  they  seem  eager  to  get  taken  on. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  the  College  Hos- 
pital, but  found  that  nearly  all  the  patients 
had  been  shipped  off  to  Wynberg.  They 
were  cleaning  out  the  big  hall  with  a  view  to 
the  expected  large  influx  this  week.  There  is 
something  rather  grim  in  making  all  these  pre- 
parations for  a  great  slaughter,  when  one  thinks 
that  the  very  men  who  are  making  all  the  plans 


I08  VICISSITUDES    OF   WAR 

may  be  among  those  to  benefit  by  them.  There 
were  still  a  certain  number  of  men  in  the 
marquees  outside,  and  I  went  round  to  them. 
At  dinner-time  Major  Heath  brought  me  more 
news  than  we  have  had  all  this  week :  news  of 
a  successful  sortie  in  the  night  (December  8th) 
from  Ladysmith,  in  which  Natal  Volunteers 
and  Light  Horse,  under  General  Hunter,  sur- 
prised the  enemy  and  took  two  guns  and  a 
Maxim,  bringing  the  Maxim  away  with  them, 
and  blowing  the  guns  up  with  gun-cotton,  as 
too  big  to  bring.  This  is  just  the  sort  of  work 
the  Carbineers  have  been  longing  to  do,  and 
they  will  be  very  pleased  with  their  success. 
I  expect  the  knowledge  that  General  Duller  is 
now  near  makes  General  White  more  inclined 
to  a  bold  policy.  Hitherto  he  has  been  so  aw- 
fully handicapped  by  having  such  vast  supplies 
to  guard. 

Stinday,  Dec.  lo. — Celebrated  at  8  at  the 
Garrison  Church.  Mr.  Leary  from  Mashonaland 
is  taking  the  rest  of  the  duty  there  to-day,  as 
Mr.  Thompson  is  gone  to  Nottingham  Road 
for  the  day,  as  I  did  last  Sunday.  At  1 1  I 
attended  the  Garrison  Church  and  read  prayers. 
Leary  preached.  He  was  curate  of  Claremont 
before  he  went  to  Mashonaland  and  so  was 
under  Bishop  Gibson.     I  lunched  at  i  by  my- 


SIR  W.    MACCORMAC  IO9 

self,  and  at  3  went  to  the  Cathedral  for  the 
confirmation.  The  heat  was  tremendous  to- 
day, a  hot  wind,  but  I  felt  it  less  than  those 
who  had  nothing  to  do  but  think  how  hot  they 
were.  There  was  a  very  full  church,  in  spite 
of  the  heat,  and  there  were  106  candidates. 

It  is  always  nicer  and  seems  to  give  one 
heart,  when  one  is  addressing  those  one  has 
helped  to  prepare.  Then  I  came  home  to  tea 
and  spent  a  quiet  evening,  not  going  to  church 
again.  Major  Heath  has  been  obliged  to  work 
all  Sunday,  and  even  to  go  back  to  his  office 
after  dinner.  He  tells  me  there  is  bad  news  to- 
day, though  it  is  not  mentioned  in  the  paper 
and  will  be  kept  quiet,  I  dare  say,  for  a  day  or 
two.  It  is  a  reverse  to  Gatacre's  column.  It  is 
serious  enough  to  make  them  divert  a  regiment 
that  was  coming  here — the  Derbyshire — and 
send  them  to  East  London  instead. 

Monday,  Dec.  11. — Another  rather  slack  and 
unsatisfactory  day.  In  the  afternoon  I  visited 
the  Camp  Hospital  and  saw  my  friend  Massey, 
who  has  had  his  leg  off.  He  seems  to  be 
doing  well,  and  I  should  hope  is  not  in  danger 
now  of  further  mortification.  He  seems  very 
grateful  to  Sir  W.  MacCormac,  who  not  only 
saved  his  life  by  ordering  the  leg  off  at  once, 
but  also  saved  the  upper  part  of  his  leg  by 


no  VICISSITUDES    OF   WAR 

making  them  take  it  off  below  the  knee  instead 
of  above,  as  other  surgeons  wanted  to  do. 
There  is  a  Httle  account  of  how  he  was  rescued, 
in  the  paper  to-day,  which  I  thought  he  might 
like  to  send  to  his  people,  so  I  took  it  up  for 
him,  but  I  found  he  had  it  already.  In  another 
ward  I  visited  some  of  the  men  of  the  West 
York  and  the  Surrey  Regiments,  who  were 
wounded  at  the  fight  on  Willow  Grange  Hill. 
One  of  them,  a  Leeds  man,  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Boers  after  his  wound.  He  says  that 
nearly  all  their  medicals  were  English  or 
Scotch  —  several  of  them  Edinburgh  men. 
They  treated  him  well,  and  sent  him  back  after 
a  couple  of  days.  I  suppose  they  did  not  want 
to  be  burdened  with  useless  prisoners  so  far 
from  their  base.  One  young  fellow  of  the 
West  Surreys  had  a  bullet  extracted  from  his 
chest.  He  showed  me  the  stitches  right  across 
his  breast  where  he  had  been  cut  open,  and 
also  the  bullet,  of  which  he  was  very  proud  ; 
he  said  he  had  been  offered  a  lot  of  money  for 
it.  Another  man  had  two  bullets  which  had 
been  taken  out  of  him,  one  a  Mauser  bullet, 
which  had  been  flattened  either  against  a  rock 
or  against  his  bone,  and  the  other  a  round 
bullet  from  a  shrapnel  shell.  They  all  seemed 
pretty  cheerful.     There  was  one  American  who 


NEWS    OF    LADYSMITH  III 

had  joined  the  Army  Service  Corps,  and  was 
down  with  malarial  fever.  It  was  a  most 
terrible  day  for  damp  sweltering  heat.  We  sat 
on  the  verandah  after  dinner,  when  it  began  to 
be  tolerable.  i 

Tuesday,  Dec.  12. — A  great  relief  to-day  in 
the  weather,  cool  this  morning  and  almost  cold 
this  afternoon.  I  have  had  a  letter  from  Gedge 
asking  me  to  make  arrangements  in  connection 
with  General  Wolfe  Murray  for  the  chaplaincy 
of  all  the  troops  on  the  line  of  communications, 
i.e.,  Nottingham  Road,  Mooi  River,  Brinbella, 
Estcourt,  and  probably  after  a  day  or  two 
Frere.  So  I  went  to  the  Brigade  Office  and 
made  my  proposal.  In  the  afternoon  I  paid  a 
visit  to  Tylor,  the  Leeds  Clergy  School  man,  in 
the  Legislative  Hospital.  He  is  doing  fairly 
well,  but  he  still  has  a  very  high  temperature 
at  times,  and  I  don't  know  what  to  think  of  his 
chances  of  pulling  through.  Then  I  directed 
all  my  circulars  to  the  clergy.  Major  Heath 
brought  me  news  at  tea-time  of  another  sortie 
at  Ladysmith,  this  time  by  the  2nd  Battalion 
Rifle  Brigade  under  Colonel  Metcalfe,  which 
seems  to  have  succeeded  in  capturing  another 
gun.  But  they  were  attacked  on  their  return 
march,  and  lost  some,  but  must  also  have  killed 
a  good  many  Boers,  as  they  got  into  them  with 


112  VICISSITUDES    OF   WAR 

the  bayonet.  We  are  a  bit  uneasy  about  Lord 
Methuen's  column,  as  beside  persistent  rumour 
of  fighting  from  Boer  sources  we  have  no  direct 
news  from  him,  which  looks  suspicious. 

Wednesday, Dec.  13. — This  afternoon  I  thought 
I  would  take  some  real  exercise,  so  I  went  on 
my  bicycle  to  Wilgefontein.  I  have  never  been 
far  along  that  road  before.  I  found  it  rather 
pretty,  and  it  is  a  lovely  hill  coming  back  to 
coast  down,  a  long  gradual  slope  with  a  road 
like  concrete.  I  got  thoroughly  hot,  which  was 
what  I  wanted,  and  enjoyed  a  change  and  my 
tea.  Major  Heath  has  now  got  two  ponies,  so 
we  may  get  a  ride  together  some  day ;  but  he 
is  so  busy  that  he  does  not  often  get  time.  The 
news  has  come  of  the  terrible  battle  at  Modder 
River,  but  we  wait  to  know  if  the  second  day 
(yesterday)  was  more  decisive. 

Thursday,  Dec.  14. — The  fight  yesterday  (or 
rather  on  the  nth)  at  Magersfontein  seems  to 
have  been  rather  more  effective  than  at  first 
appeared.  At  all  events,  the  enemy  is  said  to 
have  lost  terribly  and  to  have  left  the  field. 
So  I  hope  it  may  be  set  down  to  the  side  of 
profit  and  not  loss.  But,  in  order  to  turn  the 
scale,  everything  now  depends  on  General 
Buller's  tactics  round  Ladysmith. 

This  morning  there  was  a  meeting  of  the 


ST.    ANNES    SCHOOL  113 

committee  for  distributing  the  Lord  Mayor's 
Fund  at  Government  House.  In  the  afternoon 
I  went  to  see  the  Commandant  of  Maritzburg 
about  the  electric  light  for  the  Garrison  Church. 
I  have  got  new  plans  from  the  architect  to-day 
for  the  chancel  and  tower.  I  think  they  are 
an  improvement  on  what  we  had  before,  and  I 
hope  we  may  get  the  appeal  printed  before  long. 
At  4  I  went  to  give  the  prizes  at  St.  Anne's. 
They  were  to  have  no  function  at  all ;  so  no 
outsiders  were  there,  only  the  girls,  the  mis- 
tresses, and  myself  However,  we  had  a  nice 
little  talk,  and  said  nice  things  about  each 
other.  It  brings  home  the  unpleasantness  of 
this  war  when  you  see  Dutch  and  English  girls 
side  by  side  in  the  same  school.  But  I  am 
glad  to  hear  that  it  has  not  caused  a  feeling  of 
bitterness  between  the  girls.  Of  course  some 
are  gone.  Some  of  the  Transvaal  parents  sent 
for  their  girls  at  the  beginning  of  the  war ;  at 
least  one  did.  Others  have  left  them  all 
through;  while  many  of  the  English  parents 
at  a  distance  have  taken  their  girls  away  be- 
cause of  the  scare.  In  the  evening  I  went 
to  the  Johnstons  for  a  little  while  and  met 
Major  Bird  there.  He  is  still  down  here  in 
consequence  of  a  fall  from  his  horse. 


CHAPTER   X 

^  AGAIN    AT    THE    FRONT 

Start  for  Chieveley ;  Camp  Kit — The  Day  after  Colenso 
— Sad  Duties — The  Camp  removed — Scarcity  of  Water — 
The  Trail  of  the  Boer — Breakfast  under  Difficulties — Burial 
of  Lieutenant  Roberts — Back  to  Maritzburg — The  Foreign 
Attaches. 

Maritzburg,  Friday,  Dec.  15. — At  luncheon 
Major  Heath  brought  word  the  big  fight  had 
begun  and  that  there  was  a  considerable  slaughter 
going  on.  As  I  had  kept  myself  free  for  this 
Sunday  to  go  to  the  troops  somewhere,  I  felt  I 
ought  to  go  to  Chieveley,  as  there  are  only  the 
three  chaplains  for  the  four  brigades.  I  asked 
for  a  pass,  as  we  are  entirely  under  military  rule 
and  no  one  is  allowed  to  travel  up  to  the  scene 
of  war  without  a  special  permit.  Having  secured 
this  from  General  Wolfe  Murray,  I  found  that 
there  was  an  ambulance  train  going  up  in  the 
evening,  so  I  had  not  much  time  to  make  my 
preparations.  Major  Heath  kindly  lent  me  his 
camp-kit — a  valise  like  a  big  hold-all,  in  which 


CHIEVELEY  1 1  5 

one  sleeps.  It  unrolls,  and  has  a  row  of  cork 
laths  forming  a  mattress  and  a  waterproof  flap 
which  comes  over  one  if  it  is  wet.  I  also  took  my 
Etna  and  a  canvas  bath  and  bucket.  At  1 1  p.m. 
the  train  came  up  with  no  one  in  it  but  a  doctor 
and  several  orderlies  and  ambulance  men.  They 
gave  orders  for  the  beds  to  be  made  up  in  the 
station,  with  a  view  to  being  quite  ready  next 
morning  for  the  gruesome  work.  We  had  a 
long  and  tedious  journey  through  the  night 
with  many  pauses.  Everything  is  disorganized. 
At  one  place  we  had  to  wait  for  a  hospital  train 
coming  down  with  its  sad  freight. 

Saturday^  Dec,  i6. — We  reached  Chieveley, 
where  we  were  within  a  few  miles  of  the  wide- 
spreading  British  camp.  The  camp  is  in  itself 
like  a  small  town,  and  to  find  anyone  in  it  is 
like  "■  looking  for  a  needle  in  a  bundle  of  hay." 
The  various  brigades  are  at  some  distance  from 
each  other,  and  there  are  cavalry  lines  and 
hospital  lines,  and  a  dozen  other  branches  of 
the  service.  As  the  train  stopped  Major  Chi- 
chester came  to  the  window  of  my  carriage  and 
kindly  invited  me  to  leave  my  kit  and  bicycle 
in  his  tent,  while  I  went  in  search  of  the  chap- 
lain. Before  reaching  his  tent,  however,  an 
officer  came  up  to  me  and  asked  if  I  would 
conduct  a  funeral  there  and  then.     Lord  Dun- 


Il6  AGAIN    AT    THE    FRONT 

donald,  who  commands  the  Cavalry  Brigade, 
was  present,  and  he  walked  with  me.     All  this 
brings  home  to  one  the  sad  and  terrible  aspect 
of  war.     The  poor  fellow  was  lying  in  an  am- 
bulance   wagon,    wrapped   in  his   blanket,  his 
boots    exposed,   the    whole    arrangements   so 
hastily  made,  and  yet  already  the  burning  heat 
had  been  doing  its  work  with  the  poor  body. 
With  a  firing  party  escorting  the  sad  procession 
we  marched  up  the  hill  to  where  the  shallow 
grave  had  just  been  dug,  and  there  I  read  the 
service.     After  the  funeral  the  firing  party  went 
through  certain  movements,  but  did  not  fire,  as 
of  course  it  would  be  liable  to  be  misunderstood 
by  the  enemy,  who  are  within  range  of  us  on 
the  hills  which  look  so  quiet  and  uninhabited 
over  there   across   the  Tugela.     On  my  way 
back  to  Major  Chichester's  tent,  Major  Graham 
of  the  staff  came  up  to  me  on  horseback,  and 
asked  if  I  would  take  another  funeral  at  12.30 
of  seven  poor  fellows  of  the  Natal  Carbineers 
and    Imperial  Light   Horse.  .  .  .  Of  course  I 
met  many  people  whom  I  knew.     I  was  glad 
to  get  a  big  tin  pot  of  tea,  for  already  I  had  a 
burning  thirst  and  had  had  very  little  breakfast. 
The  thirst  is  awful,  and  the  worst  of  it  is  that 
water  is  almost  as  precious  as  gold  here,  as  it 
all  has  to  be  brought  by  train  or  water-cart,  or 


THE    CAMP    SHIFTED  TI7 

dug  from  newly-made  wells.  If  you  have  read 
Steevens's  *'  With  Kitchener  to  Khartoum " 
you  will  understand  what  he  says  about  the 
desert  thirst.  I  agreed  with  every  word  of  it. 
.  .  .  When  the  sun  goes  down  life  in  camp 
begins  to  get  tolerable,  and  we  sat  outside  the 
tent  smoking  and  enjoying  the  comparative 
cool. 

But  our  rest  was  not  for  long,  for  a  few 
minutes  after  Colonel  Stuart  Wortley  came  in 
to  say  that  the  orders  were  that  the  whole  force 
was  to  shift  in  the  middle  of  the  night — two 
brigades  going  back  to  Frere,  and  the  rest  to  a 
camp  about  a  mile  away  from  here — the  object 
plainly  being  to  move  out  of  range  of  the  Boer 
big  guns.  At  present  we  are  within  their  reach, 
and  the  armistice  for  the  burial  of  the  dead 
expires  at  midnight.  This  was  annoying,  just 
as  one  was  contemplating  a  quiet  night  and  a 
good  sleep  to  make  up  for  about  twelve  hours 
in  the  train,  and  my  servant  had  brought  me  a 
bath  ready  for  the  morning.  The  very  sound 
of  the  water  was  refreshing.  I  began  to  pack 
up  all  the  kit  which  I  had  just  unpacked  and  to 
roll  up  my  bed.  I  emptied  the  bath  with  great 
anguish  of  heart !  And  then  it  occurred  to  me 
that  this  was  a  very  thoughtless  and  heartless 
thing  to  do,  when  there  were  these  hundreds  of 


I  1 8  AGAIN    AT    THE    FRONT 

Stretcher-bearers  outside  longing  for  a  drop. 
Fortunately  I  still  had  my  canvas  bucket  full, 
so  I  took  it  out  and  said,  '*  Do  any  of  you  fellows 
want  a  drink  of  water  ?  "  In  a  moment  I  was  in 
the  centre  of  a  seething  crowd  trying  to  get  a 
drink  out  of  the  bucket  or  to  fill  their  mugs. 

It  was  a  sad  sight  to  see  the  continual  line 
of  bearers  with  their  stretchers  laden  with  the 
poor  wounded  chaps.  They  had  to  carry  them 
altogether  about  seven  miles  from  the  battle- 
field itself  to  the  hospital  at  Chieveley  station. 
...  At  the  station  I  got  hold  of  the  station- 
master,  and  asked  him  if  I  could  get  a  quiet 
corner  anywhere  to  spread  my  bed.  I  was  per- 
fectly ready  to  sleep  out  on  the  veldt.  However, 
he  offered  me  a  share  of  his  room,  which  I 
accepted.  The  house  was  in  a  sad  state  of 
dirt  and  disorder.  The  Boers  had  been  in 
possession  of  it  a  little  while  back,  and  had 
ruthlessly  destroyed  everything  they  could  lay 
hands  on  In  the  most  wanton  and  brutal  manner. 
They  had  hacked  down  the  marble  mantelpiece 
and  left  the  pieces  in  the  grate,  had  broken 
his  cupboards  and  windows,  torn  the  locks  off 
his  drawers,  and  (most  childish  and  wanton  of 
all)  had  destroyed  his  cases  of  stuffed  birds  by 
pulling  the  heads  off  them  all. 

Sunday,  Dec.  17. — After  a  hot  and  almost 


BREAKFAST    UNDER    DIFFICULTIES  II 9 

sleepless  night,  I  was  not  sorry  to  get  up  soon 
after  5,  at  which  hour  my  station-master  turned 
out.  I  wandered  about  the  place  to  see  if  any- 
thing in  the  way  of  water  was  to  be  had  for 
washing,  and  then  discovered  Sir  W.  Mac- 
Cormac  in  the  next  room.  We  were  both  in 
flimsy  costume,  but  I  hailed  him  through  the 
window,  and  he  kindly  came  to  my  relief,  send- 
ing his  man  with  water,  so  that  I  managed  a 
decent  wash.  Then  I  mounted  my  bicycle  and 
rode  towards  camp,  a  mile  from  the  station. 
It  is  a  wonderful  thing  to  see  a  camp  of  this 
size,  covering  two  or  three  miles  of  country, 
completely  moved  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours. 
.  .  .  We  breakfasted  at  a  small  table  in  front 
of  a  tent,  with  very  little  shade  from  the  more 
and  more  perpendicular  sun.  That  is  the  worst 
feature,  that  one  gets  to  dread  the  sun  and  to 
long  for  sunset  again.  ''  The  shadow  of  a 
great  rock  in  a  weary  land  "  is  a  very  intelligible 
description  of  our  greatest  desideratum.  We 
had  sausages  and  bacon,  but  no  bread — only 
biscuits  which  simply  jeered  at  my  teeth  !  Till 
they  had  been  soaked  in  tea  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  they  were  as  impregnable  as  the  Colenso 
hills.  There  was  butter,  but  it  was  a  liquid 
yellow  oil,  which  warned  one  off,  and  jam  does 
not  go  well  with  tea-soaked  biscuits !    Then  I 


I20  AGAIN    AT    THE    FRONT 

tried  to  get  a  scrap  of  shade  behind  the  tent, 
and  sat  and  read,  and  gazed  on  those  silent  hills 
which  seem  so  remote  from  any  human  life,  and 
which  yet  are  full  of  life-destroying  machines. 
There  seemed  no  chance  of  any  church  parades. 
The  men  had  had  no  night's  rest,  and  were  still 
busy  getting  straight  in  their  new  camp,  and  as 
soon  as  that  was  done  would  need  sleep. 

The  first  news  was  that  poor  young  Roberts, 
the  brave  leader  of  one  of  the  forlorn  hopes  to  re- 
cover the  guns  on  Friday,  had  died  at  1 2  o'clock 
last  night.  The  whole  camp  seemed  to  grieve 
for  him,  and  for  his  father.  I  went  to  consult 
the  principal  medical  officer  about  the  funeral, 
and  we  arranged  that  it  should  be  at  4  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  when  other  poor  fellows  who  had 
succumbed  to  their  wounds  would  be  buried 
too.  I  bicycled  back  to  the  camp,  which  was 
now  only  a  mile  from  the  station,  in  order  to  tell 
Mr.  Gedge  about  this  arrangement.  I  met  him 
riding  over,  and  while  he  went  on  to  the  hos- 
pital, I  went  for  breakfast  to  the  camp.  It  was 
a  strange  Sunday.  Church  parades  were  out 
of  the  question,  as  the  men  had  been  up  all 
night,  and  there  was  still  much  to  be  done  to 
settle  into  the  new  quarters,  and  then  the  men 
needed  rest.  So  I  employed  the  time  in  going 
to  seek  out  men  whom  I  had  been  asked  to  look 


BURIAL   OF    LIEUTENANT    ROBERTS  121 

out  for  in  some  of  the  regiments.  I  remembered 
the  refrain  of  Rudyard  Kipling's  latest  song  as 
I  passed  from  the  son  of  a  Hampstead  omnibus 
driver,  whom  my  sister  had  commended  to  me, 
to  the  tent  of  Prince  Christian  and  of  General 
Hildyard,  to  whose  brigade  both  are  attached. 
Then  I  went  back  to  Chieveley  to  have  a  look 
round  the  hospital,  and  to  see  the  entraining 
of  another  load  of  wounded  men  in  the  am- 
bulance train  for  Maritzburg.  At  the  station 
I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Treves,  whom  I  was 
the  more  interested  to  meet,  as  last  year  I  had 
been  specially  urged  to  visit  him  as  an  umpire, 
in  my  own  case,  between  Dr.  Bland  Sutton  and 
Sir  William  Broadbent.  The  medical  officers 
were  kind  enough  to  give  me  some  sandwiches 
for  luncheon,  and  then  later  on  came  the  sad 
ceremony  at  the  grave-side.  A  large  number  of 
officers,  including  General  Clery,  General  Hild- 
yard, and  Lord  Dundonald,  came  to  pay  their 
last  respects  to  Lord  Roberts's  son.  The  bearers 
were  his  Colonel  (Colonel  Buchanan  Riddell), 
Colonel  Stuart  Wortley,  Prince  Christian,  Major 
Bewick  Copley,  and  two  others.  Mr.  Gedge 
and  I  together  read  the  service.  The  graves 
lie  about  200  yards  this  side  of  Chieveley  sta- 
tion, and  within  about  60  yards  of  the  line  on 
the  east. 


122  AGAIN    AT    THE    FRONT 

After  the  funeral  we  walked  back  together, 
and  an  officer  of  the  Surrey  Regiment  told  us  of 
his  marvellous  escape.  The  clasp-knife  hanging 
from  his  belt  had  been  hit,  and  the  blow  had 
given  him  a  nasty  knock,  but  the  knife  had 
saved  his  life.  He  saw  something  bright  at  his 
feet,  stooped  down,  and  picked  up  the  bullet.  .  .  . 

One  cannot  help  thinking  of  the  sinking  of 
heart  of  those  poor  people  in  Ladysmith,  who 
have  been  pounded  with  shot  and  shell  for 
nearly  two  months,  and  who  hoped  that  this 
Sunday  was  to  see  an  end  of  their  danger  and 
anxiety — and  now  the  end  is  still  remote,  and  no 
one  knows  as  yet  how  or  when  it  is  to  come.  .  .  . 

Next  morning,  at  5  punctually,  we  were 
awakened  by  the  sound  of  the  big  guns.  I  was 
sleeping  on  the  floor  of  the  station-master's 
sitting-room  beneath  the  open  window,  and  sit- 
ting up  I  could  distinctly  watch  the  flash  of  the 
gun,  and  see  its  column  of  smoke,  and  hear  its 
roar.  It  seemed  the  more  startling  in  the 
perfect  stillness  of  the  cloudless  dawn,  with  the 
hills  wrapped  in  a  pink  haze  against  a  saffron 
sky. 

Tuesday,  Dec,  19.  —  Back  in  Maritzburg  for 
the  quarterly  meeting  of  our  Finance  Board. 
We  discussed  the  kind  proposal  of  the  Home 
Association    to   make   a   special   appeal    for  a 


FOREIGN    ATTACHI^.S  I  23 

**  Clergy  Distress  Fund."  There  is  no  doubt 
there  will  be  great  distress,  and  so  anything  our 
friends  at  home  can  do  will  be  most  acceptable, 
Wednesday,  Dec.  20. — Ember  Day  Chapter 
meeting.  Celebration  of  Holy  Communion  at  7. 
Meeting  at  10.30.  Both  Archdeacons  absent, 
Barker  in  Ladysmith  and  Hammick  in  bed. 
Several  subjects  had  to  be  put  off  in  conse- 
quence ;  but  we  got  through  some  business, 
especially  making  arrangements  for  a  consider- 
able celebration  of  the  Bi-centenary  of  the 
S.P.G.  next  year.  In  the  evening  I  dined  at 
Government  House  with  the  foreign  attaches 
who  are  on  their  way  to  the  front.  It  is  always 
interesting  to  meet  intelligent  foreigners,  but 
especially  at  this  time,  when  we  are  all  a  little 
anxious  that  they  should  not  lose  their  heads 
about  this  war,  and  should  understand  that  we 
are  not  the  land-grabbers  and  bullies  which  their 
papers  represent  us.  I  sat  between  the  German 
and  the  Frenchman.  I  ventured  to  represent 
to  the  German  that  this  was  a  remarkable  re- 
sult of  our  unique  magnanimity  in  188 1.  I 
told  him  I  knew  from  my  own  experience  in 
Germany  that  many  of  his  countrymen  did 
think  we  were  dreadful  hypocrites,  who  talked 
piously  while  we  were  emptying  our  neighbours' 
pockets ;  but  that  this  was  a  pretty  good  proof 


124  AGAIN    AT    THE    FRONT 

of  what  we  suffered  from  really  letting  con- 
science work  out  our  policy.  He  frankly  ad- 
mitted that  personally  he  was  in  favour  of  a 
healthy  selfishness.  No  wonder  people  who 
deliberately  tell  you  that  there  is  no  place  for 
magnanimity  in  politics,  and  that  the  only  safe 
and  rational  policy  is  that  of  ''  healthy  selfish- 
ness ''  (what  constitutes  the  **  healthiness  "  he 
did  not  explain),  cannot  understand  that  any 
talk  about  conscience  can  be  other  than  cant. 
The  Governor  had  the  Russian  on  his  right 
hand  and  the  Italian  on  his  left,  and  at  each 
end  were  the  Austrian  and  the  American  with 
Colonel  Herbert,  their  conductor,  and  Colonel 
Hime,  our  Premier,  and  General  Wolfe  Murray 
and  secretaries,  and  Brooke,  the  wounded 
A.D.C.  It  was  a  pleasant  and  interesting 
evening,  though  our  defeat  at  the  Tugela  was 
an  unpleasant  recollection  in  the  presence  of 
these  military  critics.  Major  Heath  came  back 
to-night,  but  I  have  not  yet  heard  much  about 
his  trip  to  New  Hanover. 


CHAPTER    XI 

DAILY    DUTIES 

Opening  of  St.  Thomas's  Church,  Durban — The  Volun- 
teer Hospital ;  Privates  of  Colonial  Corps — Sermon  at  the 
Garrison  Church — Mr.  Winston  Churchill — Christmas  Day  ; 
Sir  C.  Warren's  Arrival — Mr.  Escombe's  Death — 1900 — 
Visits  to  the  Hospitals ;  Experiences  of  the  Wounded. 

Durdan,  Thursday ^  Dec.  2 1  (St.  Thomas's  Day). 
— Went  to  Durban  at  8.45  with  Johnson  for  the 
opening  of  the  new  Church  of  St.  Thomas 
this  evening.  Arrived  at  1.30  and  had  luncheon 
at  the  club.  Read  the  papers  and  then  drove 
up  with  Mrs.  Dale  to  the  Berea.  We  called  at 
the  church,  where  they  are  working  up  to  the 
very  last  moment  to  be  ready.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  the  electric  light  was  connected  about  7. 1 5 
for  the  service  at  7.30,  which  was  running  it  as 
fine  as  they  could.  I  preached  to  a  crowded 
congregation,  and  there  were  a  fair  number  of 
clergy  present — Archdeacons  Hammick  and 
Temple  (refugee  from  the  Transvaal),  Goodwin, 
Bromilow,  W.  Bibby,  and  Jones.  I  preached 
without  the  help  of  such  glow  as  makes  preach- 


126  DAILY    DUTIES 

ing  a  pleasure,  but  all  the  same  the  serious 
nature  of  the  times  through  which  we  are  pass- 
ing saves  any  service  and  sermon  from  being 
altogether  dull  and  commonplace.  I  think 
they  listened  with  a  sense  of  reality  in  the 
words,  which  is  something.  They  all  knew  that 
I  had  just  come  from  the  front  and  had  been 
burying  their  own  friends. 

Maritzburg\  Saturday,  Dec.  23. — I  went  in  to 
see  the  new  batch  of  wounded  men  in  the  Volun- 
teer Hospital.  They  were  mostly  doing  well,  all 
indeed.  That  is  one  comfort,  that  so  many  of 
these  Mauser  bullet  wounds  are  very  slight. 
It  is  curious  what  sort  of  people  one  finds 
among  the  privates  in  these  irregular  corps. 
There  were  five  fellows  sitting  together  on  the 
bed  of  one  of  them — who  had  all  been  in  one 
tent  at  the  front — several  of  them  gentlemen, 
and  two  or  three  of  them  old  schoolfellows 
from  St.  Andrew's,  Grahamstown,  the  diocesan 
school  there.  One  of  them  was  a  great  ele- 
phant hunter,  and  had  come  down  from  Portu- 
guese territory  to  the  Transvaal,  not  knowing 
that  there  was  war.  He  had  been  promptly 
arrested  and  put  over  the  border,  and  then  had 
joined  Thorneycroft's  Mounted  Infantry.  My 
friend  Tylor,  the  man  who  had  been  at  Mag- 
dalen and  Leeds  Clergy  School,  is  getting  on 


CHRISTMAS    EVE    SERMON  J  3? 

well ;  so  now  I  think  we  may  hope  he  is  going 
to  live.  I  am  to  have  a  Celebration  for  them 
on  Christmas  morning. 

Sunday,  Dec,  24. — Holy  Communion  at  the' 
Garrison  Church  at  8.  At  1 1  I  had  to  institute 
and  induct  Mr.  Gardner  to  St.  Peter's.  After 
the  second  lesson  I  went  in  front  of  the  altar  and 
invited  the  prayers  of  the  congregation  for  him, 
and  then  he  made  his  declarations  and  I  read 
his  licence,  and  then  after  more  prayers  the 
service  proceeded.  I  preached  on  the  strange 
Christmas  we  were  having  this  year,  and 
showed  that  the  comings  of  Christ  were  to  be 
progressive,  and  that  this  year  He  came  to  us 
not  in  the  old  way  of  our  childhood  with  the 
holly  and  the  ivy  and  the  Christmas-tree,  but 
from  the  battlefield  and  the  big  guns  and  the 
bloodshed  and  the  desolated  homes,  showing  us 
that  all  this  was  not  strange  to  Him,  but  that  it 
was  through  bloodshed  that  He  bought  us  the 
peace  which  is  the  proclamation  of  the  Herald 
Angels.  I  feel  that  everyone  thinks  more  seri- 
ously just  now  :  may  the  thoughts  remain. 

The  Governor  and  Brooke  were  there. 
Afterwards  H.  E.  stopped  me  in  the  church- 
yard and  asked  me  to  present  Mr.  Gardner,  and 
invited  me  to  luncheon  to  meet  Mr.  Winston 
Churchill,  who  arrived  here  last  night  after  his  es- 


128  DAILY    DUTIES 

cape  from  Pretoria.  I  was  glad  to  meet  him  after 
all  I  had  heard  in  his  praise  from  the  wounded 
men.  It  seems  there  was  one  particular  moment 
when  the  sentries  happened  to  be  in  a  position 
in  which  neither  of  them  could  see  a  particular 
angle  of  the  wall,  and  that  was  his  chance. 
But  it  did  not  occur  again,  and  so  two  other 
officers,  who  were  to  have  joined  him,  and  for 
whom  he  waited  an  hour  or  more  in  Meyers's 
garden,  did  not  get  away.  From  the  prison 
(which  was  the  racecourse)  he  walked  through 
the  streets  of  Pretoria  without  disguise,  and 
then  got  away  by  means  of  goods  trains :  some- 
times walking,  sometimes  riding.  He  got  on 
to  them  in  the  dark  while  in  motion  or  in  a 
siding,  and  waited  till  they  went  on.  He  was 
nine  days  on  the  road  from  Pretoria  to  Delagoa 
Bay.  He  will  have  grand  material  for  a  book, 
which  ought  to  be  as  exciting  as  one  of 
Anthony  Hope's  or  Stanley  Weyman's,  with  the 
additional  advantage  of  being  true.  Captain 
Percy  Scott  of  the  *'  Terrible,"  the  Commandant 
of  Durban,  was  also  at  luncheon.  I  had  not 
met  him  before. 

Monday,  Dec,  25,  Christmas  Day, — A  strange 
Christmas,  with  half  the  place  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy  and  half  the  people  either  mourning 
lost  ones  or  anxious  as  to  those  who  are  shut 


CHRISTMAS    DAY  I  29 

up.  I  went  down  to  the  Legislative  Building 
at  8,  as  Leary  had  arranged  for  a  Celebration 
of  Holy  Communion.  It  was  a  doubtful  ex- 
periment, as  so  few  of  these  fellows  are  likely 
to  be  communicants.  However,  a  fair  number 
came,  and  of  them  about  ten  communicated, 
including  two  nurses.  I  gave  a  very  short  ad- 
dress at  II.  I  preached  at  St.  Saviour's,  Mr. 
Banks  from  the  Transvaal  acting  as  my  chap- 
lain. In  the  afternoon  I  went  down  to  the 
Orphanage  really  to  see  a  Miss  Saunders,  a  new 
worker  who  has  lately  joined  the  Sisters.  She 
was  a  **  Grey  Lady  "  from  Blackheath,  and  was 
commended  to  me  by  the  Bishop  of  Southwark. 
But  I  was  glad  I  had  gone  down  on  this  day,  as 
the  children  were  all  having  their  Christmas- 
tree  and  entertainment,  and  toys  were  galore. 
It  really  seemed  a  little  like  Christmas,  which  it 
had  not  done  before.  Another  English  mail 
came  in  yesterday,  so  that  we  have  had  three 
within  one  week :  this  is  annoying,  as  one  gets 
into  arrears  with  the  papers,  and  then  we  have  a 
^ong  gap  again  before  the  next  comes.  This 
afternoon  Sir  Charles  Warren  is  expected,  and 
I  am  going  up  to  meet  him.  .  .  . 

He  and  a  large  staff  arrived  about  7.  As 
there  was  some  difficulty  in  finding  quarters 
for   all   his  staff,    and  as  one  of  them.    Major 

K 


130  DAILY    DUTIES 

Capper,  is  a  great  friend  of  Heath's,  I  asked 
him  to  come  and  stay  here,  which  he  was  glad 
to  do.  I  was  sorry  that  we  had  no  kind  of 
Christmas  dinner.  However,  he  was  glad  to 
get  a  comfortable  bedroom  and  night's  rest,  as 
they  had  been  rattled  about  up  to  De  Aar  and 
back  again  to  Cape  Town,  and  then  round  here. 
It  was  a  hot  day,  but  a  pleasant  evening  on  the 
verandah,  and  we  smoked  and  discussed  the 
situation  and  all  possible  methods  of  circumvent- 
ing these  Boers.  But  all  agree  that  we  have  got 
a  very  hard  nut  to  crack  to  get  at  Ladysmith. 

Tuesday,  Dec,  26. — There  is  a  great  lull 
in  all  the  excitement,  and  I  don't  think  I  shall 
have  much  to  record  for  the  next  few  days 
(I  am  now  writing  on  Friday,  and  there  has 
been  little  of  moment  all  the  week).  The 
several  forces — Buller's  here,  Gatacre's  at  Storm- 
berg,  and  Lord  Methuen's  at  Modder  River — 
seem  all  lying  on  their  oars  till  fresh  reinforce- 
ments come.  I  have  visited  the  hospitals  once 
or  twice.  The  young  fellow  who  had  his  leg 
off  is  doing  well,  and  I  should  hope  all  danger 
of  mortification  setting  in  above  the  amputation 
is  now  past.  I  gave  a  look  in,  too,  to  the 
officers  who  are  in  the  cavalry  mess.  They  are 
getting  on  well,  though  some  of  the  wounds  are 
rather  bad. 


DEATH    OF    MR.    ESCOMBE  131 

Thursday,  Dec,  28. — I  sent  a  telegram  of 
birthday  wishes  for  my  boy  Tom,  three  years 
old  to-day.  Most  startling  was  the  news  of 
Mr.  Escombe's  death.  It  seems  he  died  quite 
suddenly  of  heart  disease.  He  is  a  great  loss 
to  the  Colony,  one  of  the  most  able  men  we 
have.  No  one,  I  think,  had  any  idea  that  he 
was  at  all  delicate.  He  looked  a  very  strong 
man,  and  one  would  have  said  that  he  had  many 
years  of  life  and  work  before  him.  I  would 
have  gone  down  to  the  funeral  if  I  had  known 
in  time.  I  see  that  the  Bishop  of  Pretoria 
buried  him.  The  Bishop's  son  married  Es- 
combe's daughter.  I  have  had  a  busy  week, 
with  a  great  deal  to  write  for  the  Diocesan 
Magazine  and  Church  News,  and  all  the  house- 
bills  to  pay. 

Friday,  Dec,  29. — I  had  a  call  this  afternoon 
from  Mr.  Babington  Smith,  who  came  to  me 
with  an  introduction  from  St.  Clair  Donaldson. 
He  is  in  the  Treasury,  and  is  out  here  on 
Natal's  financial  business.  I  telegraphed  to 
Prior  this  morning,  to  see  how  he  is  situated 
with  regard  to  Sunday,  as  now  that  all  Sir 
Charles  Warren's  Division  is  at  Estcourt  they 
need  more  help.  But  I  have  no  reply  from  him, 
and,  as  I  am  engaged  to  give  a  **  Straight  Talk  " 
to  the  Y.M.C.A.,  I  am  afraid  it  is  now  too  late 


132  DAILY    DUTIES 

to  make  any  alteration  for  this  week.  So  Prior 
must  do  the  best  he  can,  and  if  the  troops  are 
still  there  next  week  perhaps  I  shall  go  up. 

Saturday,  Dec.  30. — The  usual  round  of  Satur- 
day letters  and  sermons.  In  the  afternoon  I 
bicycled  out  for  a  little  exercise,  and,  overtak- 
ing Major  Heath  and  Mr.  Munro,  his  junior,  on 
horseback,  I  accompanied  them  for  some  distance 
till  the  hill  got  too  steep.  And  then  it  began 
to  rain,  so  I  scorched  home,  a  thing  which  the 
Spectator  said  a  Bishop  should  not  do !  The 
English  mail,  which  was  promised  us  by  the 
newspapers  yesterday,  has  not  come. 

Sunday,  Dec.  31. — Mr.  Thompson,  the  acting- 
chaplain,  came  in  last  night  to  say  he  was  not 
well,  and  asking  me  to  celebrate  for  him,  which 
I  did  this  morning.  At  11  I  went  to  St.  Peter  s, 
where  the  new  incumbent,  Mr.  Gardner,  was 
preaching.  I  was  glad  to  have  the  opportunity 
of  hearing  him.  In  the  afternoon  I  gave  my 
^'Straight  Talk"  at  the  Y.M.C.A.  Mr.  Bale, 
the  Attorney-General,  took  the  chair.  It  is 
exactly  a  year  ago  to-day  since  I  gave  the  last, 
when  Colonel  Hay  was  presiding,  only  that  was 
Jan.  I  instead  of  Dec.  31. 

Monday,  Jan.  i,  1900. — I  can't  think  how 
people  pass  from  1800  to  1900  so  calmly.  They 
say  it  is  only  a  number,  and  that  one  day  is  very 


NEW    YEAR  S    DAY  I  33 

like  another.  I  don't  agree  a  bit.  It  seems  to 
me  a  stupendous  thing  to  have  done  for  ever 
with  the  1800S  which  we  and  our  fathers  and 
our  grandfathers  wrote,  and  to  have  begun  that 
new  and  undiscovered  tract  of  the  1900s.  I 
went  to  early  service  at  7  at  the  Cathedral,  and 
prayed  for  a  new-century  frame  of  mind.  Then 
back  to  breakfast  and  a  not  very  eventful  day. 
The  town  seems  quite  deserted,  everyone  being 
out,  I  suppose,  on  picnics.  It  makes  one  feel  a 
little  bit  of  a  humbug  for  people  at  home  to  be 
writing  about  the  terrible  distress  and  anxiety 
of  Natal  and  all  that  we  are  suffering,  when  one 
looks  out  of  window  and  sees  brakes  of  holiday- 
makers  starting  out  for  a  day  in  the  country. 
All  seems  to  have  gone  on  just  as  if  there  were 
no  Boers  in  Grobler's  Kloof.  At  the  same 
time  I  cannot  help  feeling  there  is  something 
almost  indecent  in  taking  holiday  and  enjoying 
oneself,  when  there  are  so  many  who  have  just 
laid  down  their  lives  and  so  many  more  who 
are  going  to  do  so.  In  the  afternoon  I  went  to 
the  College  Hospital,  which  is  full  up  again 
since  Colenso.  The  majority  of  the  wounded 
men  are  from  the  Irish  Brigade.  They  had  it 
hottest  of  all — the  Connaught  Rangers,  the 
Dublin  Fusiliers,  the  Irish  Fusiliers.  But  there 
are  plenty  of  the  Devons  and  the  Queen's  (West 


134  DAILY    DUTIES 

Surrey)  and  others,  and  several  of  the  men  of 
the  ill-fated  batteries  which  were  taken,  the  14th 
and  the  66th.  I  took  them  up  some  papers 
which  have  been  sent  me  from  St.  Luke's  Mis- 
sion. Then  General  Wolfe  Murray  came  to 
tea  with  Heath,  and  they  went  for  a  ride. 

Tuesday,  Jan.  2. — Last  evening,  at  last,  we 
got  the  mail  which  the  newspapers  had  promised 
us  last  Friday,  and  even  then  only  the  letters, 
not  the  papers.  In  the  afternoon  I  visited  the 
hospital  again — the  camp  one  this  time.  But 
the  camp  is  full  of  hospitals,  half  the  ordinary 
barrack  rooms  being  turned  into  hospitals,  so 
that  one  can  only  visit  two  or  three  wards  at  a 
time. 

I  had  a  nice  lot  of  papers  sent  me  from 
one  of  the  bookshops  here  for  the  men,  and 
I  took  a  certain  number  up  to-day.  The 
wounds  in  some  cases  are  very  remarkable. 
There  was  one  man  hit  in  the  side  of  the  head, 
and  the  bullet  is  supposed  to  be  there  still,  in 
his  brain,  as  one  would  think,  yet  he  seems 
happy.  There  was  another  who  was  hit  just 
above  the  hip,  and  the  bullet  was  found  just 
under  the  skin  above  the  breast-bone  on  the 
other  side.  He  has  the  bullet,  and  he  shows 
you  the  dark  mark  where  the  bullet  was  lodged 
in  him.     It  must  have  been  a  spent  one,  or  it 


BOERS    AND  THE    WOUNDED  1 35 

would  have  gone  clean  through.  It  is  a  wonder 
that  It  missed  all  vital  organs.  From  all  ac- 
counts the  men  behaved  splendidly,  marching 
as  steadily  through  that  awful  fire-zone  as  on 
parade.  Some  of  the  men,  I  was  told,  were  put 
under  arrest  for  leaving  the  ranks,  and  the 
reason  was  that  they  would  go  and  pick  up  bits 
of  shell  to  keep,  while  shot  and  shell  were  rain- 
ing on  them — dear  innocents  !  One  of  the 
wounded  men  yesterday  told  me  that  after  he 
was  hit  in  the  leg  a  Boer  came  down  and  rode 
over  him,  the  horse  standing  on  his  damaged 
leg  and  grazing  the  other.  He  did  not  blame 
the  Boer,  however,  as  "  he  thought  he  did  not 
see  him  " !  And  then  they  came  and  took  off 
all  his  clothes — boots  and  all — and  left  him  in 
the  blistering  sun  naked.  They  hurt  him  con- 
siderably in  taking  off  his  boot. 

Wednesday,  Jan.  3.  —  In  the  afternoon  I 
visited  the  hospital  again.  There  are  now  so 
many  wards  all  over  the  place  that  it  takes  a 
long  time  to  get  round  them  all,  and  I  have  not 
done  so  yet.  It  is  not  very  much  one  can  do 
where  the  men  are  all  so  close  together  and 
there  is  no  privacy.  No  wonder  they  are  a  bit 
shy  of  talking  about  any  but  ordinary  affairs. 
I  should  be  so  myself.  I  took  a  lot  of  literature 
that  has  been  sent  me. 


136  DAILY    DUTIES 

Thursday,  Jan.  4. —  Major  Heath  started 
directly  after  breakfast,  by  train,  but  taking  his 
pony,  too,  to  ride  the  rest  of  the  way,  the  Grey- 
town  railway  being  open  only  as  far  as  New 
Hanover.  I  had  been  planning  a  Sunday  at 
Richmond,  having  nothing  specially  to  keep  me 
here.  But  a  telegram  came  to-day  from  Gedge 
asking  if  I  would  help  Hill  this  Sunday  at 
Frere.  That  is  not  quite  the  front,  as  it  is  five 
or  six  miles  from  Chieveley.  But  it  is  pretty 
near.  I  have  telegraphed  to  say  I  will,  and 
have  wired  to  put  off  the  Richmond  plan.  I 
don't  know  whether  the  battle  is  very  near. 
If  it  is  I  may  perhaps  stay  for  it.  Mr.  Hill 
telegraphs  to  say  that  General  Lyttelton  will 
entertain  me,  which  is  very  kind,  and  saves 
me  from  troubling  about  how  to  get  rations. 
I  shall  borrow  Major  Heath's  camp-bed  and 
other  utensils.  I  hope  to  start  on  Saturday 
morning. 

Friday,  Jan,  5. — I  was  busy  getting  various 
things  for  my  trip,  and  in  case  I  should  stay  on 
I  am  taking  a  few  more  things  than  last  time. 
This  morning  I  have  set  Jeremiah  to  pick  as 
many  of  our  grapes  as  he  can  find  ripe  enough, 
with  a  view  to  taking  them  up  to  the  hospital  if 
there  are  enough.  He  has  come  in  with  quite  a 
large  basket  full.    Our  vines  are  doing  well  this 


STARTING    FOR    FRERE  1 37 

year  —  a  tremendous  quantity  of  grapes,  but 
very  few  are  ripe  yet.  I  am  afraid  when  they 
are,  they  will  be  stolen  by  all  the  small  boys  of 
the  neighbourhood,  for  they  hang  so  close  to  the 
road  as  to  be  a  sore  temptation  ! 


CHAPTER  XII 

AT  THE  FRONT  WITH  GENERAL  BULLER 

Start  for  Frere ;  the  Camp — Boer  Position — Signals  from 
Ladysmith — Floods — Start  for  Springfield — A  Night  March 
— View  from  Spearman's  Hill. 

Frere  Campy  Saturday y  Jan.  6  (Epiphany). — 
Up  early  to  pack.  Started  at  8.30  on  my 
bicycle  (baggage  in  rickshaw)  for  the  station. 
Many  men  and  officers  travelling,  train  full. 
But  at  last  they  put  on  an  extra  carriage 
and  I  got  a  compartment  to  myself — though 
others  got  in  for  short  distances  at  intermediate 
stations.  Colonel  Gallwey,  P.M.O.,  and  his 
second  in  command,  Major  Babtie,  were  in  the 
train,  and  I  travelled  part  of  the  way  with  them. 
At  Nottingham  Road  there  were  a  lot  of  soldiers 
and  Volunteers  on  the  platform,  and  I  talked  to 
Livingstone,  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Natal 
Field  Artillery.  At  Highlands  we  met  the 
down  train,  and  the  guard  told  me  (what  proved 
to  be  true)  that  there  was  a  great  fight  going 
on  at  Ladysmith — that  he  had  counted  eighty 


FRERE    CAMP  I  39 

guns  in  four  minutes — that  it  had  been  raging 
from  the  middle  of  the  night.  At  Estcourt  we 
were  stopped — had  to  change  and  stop  for  two 
hours.  At  length,  after  more  long  pauses,  we 
reached  Frere  somewhere  about  6.  General 
Wolfe  Murray  had  a  message  from  General 
White— sent  by  heliograph — to  say  that  the 
fight  had  been  going  on  since  2.45.  Enemy 
repulsed  everywhere,  but  fighting  still  con- 
tinued. 

At  Frere  Mr.  Hill,  the  chaplain,  and  Cap- 
tain Yarde-Buller,  A.D.C.  to  General  Lyttel- 
ton,  met  me.  Captain  Duller  had  kindly 
brought  me  two  pack-mules  for  kit  and  a 
pony  to  ride.  But  as  I  had  my  bicycle  I  did 
not  need  the  latter,  and  as  Hill  also  had  one 
we  bicycled  together.  The  camp  spreads 
everywhere,  converting  these  silent  hills  and 
plains  into  a  busy  town.  General  Lyttelton 
and  his  three  staff  officers  have  their  tents  on  a 
little  kopje  overlooking  all  the  camp,  and  with 
their  servants'  tents  behind.  There  are  four 
bell-tents  and  a  little  square  green  tent,  which 
the  General  tells  me  did  service  at  the  Church 
Congress  in  London,  as  our  mess  tent.  Captain 
Duller  has  most  kindly  given  up  his  tent  to  me, 
and  gone  in  with  Major  Dailey  (the  Drigade 
Major) ;  the  other  staff  officer  is  Captain  Wilson, 


140   AT  THE  FRONT  WITH  GENERAL  BULLER 

a  very  festive  person.  I  had  to  push  my  bicycle 
up  the  stony  kopje,  and  soon  had  my  kit  out  by 
the  help  of  the  General's  soldier  servant,  and 
was  ready  for  dinner.  No  more  news  from 
Ladysmith  yet. 

Sunday,  Jan.  7. — Up  at  5  ;  at  5.45  Holy 
Communion  in  the  Durban  Light  Infantry  mess 
tent,  which  they  call  the  **  Crystal  Palace,"  so 
spacious  is  it  for  these  times.  There  were 
twelve  or  fourteen  communicants — all  officers. 
Hill  had  another  celebration  for  the  other 
brigade  (General  Hart's)  directly  after.  Then 
I  had  a  cup  of  tea,  and  at  7  there  was  the 
church  parade  for  this  (the  4th)  Brigade. 
Seeing  that  three  out  of  the  four  battalions  are 
English — the  Rifle  Brigade,  the  (3rd)  60th 
Rifles,  the  Durham  Light  Infantry — and  the 
fourth  (the  Scottish  Rifles)  is  Scotch,  there  is  a 
very  large  attendance  at  the  Church  of  England 
service.  We  rode  to  the  hill  on  which  the 
naval  guns  are,  from  which  we  could  see  the 
whole  Boer  position.  We  examined  it  carefully 
through  glasses.  There  they  were — the  long 
line  of  hills  and  kopjes  rising  above  the  Tugela 
and  towards  the  east  on  this  side  of  it — 
Hlangwani — Fort  Wylie  just  across  the  broken 
railway  bridge — Grobler's  Kloof — and  all  the 
unnamed  points  in  the  range.     One  could  make 


THE    BOER    POSITION  I4I 

out  lines  of  intrench ment,  where  the  earth  had 
been  thrown  up,  but  not  the  sign  of  a  Boer. 
They  keep  wonderfully  out  of  sight  with  these 
big  guns  pointing  at  them.  And  the  marvel  of 
the  battle  of  Colenso  was  that  there  was  not  a 
sight  or  a  sound  of  the  Boers  till  our  men  were 
within  500  yards  or  less,  and  then  the  whole 
hillside  for  a  mile  or  two  was  ablaze  with  rifle 
firing.  It  is  difficult  to  describe  the  feeling  as 
one  sees  these  familiar  hills  transformed  into 
battlefields  of  memorable  interest. 

Then  we  rode  back,  and  Murray  cantered  up 
to  the  helio:  station  to  see  if  there  was  any  news 
come  through  as  to  yesterday's  fight,  while  I  rode 
slowly  back  to  Lord  Dundonald's  camp.  The 
heliographing  is  done  from  Ladysmith  to  one 
of  the  hills  near  Weenen  and  thence  to  Chieve- 
ley,  as  from  the  latter  one  cannot  quite  see  the 
hills  above  Ladysmith.  The  news  that  came 
was  not  official ;  it  was  that  the  Manchesters 
and  Devons  had  got  into  the  Boers  with  the 
bayonet,  and  the  two  battalions  of  the  6oth 
Rifles  ditto.  That  the  Boer  losses  were  severe, 
ours  slight.  At  6  we  had  a  voluntary  service 
on  this  kopje.  There  were  a  good  number 
present — looor  so,  including  General  Lyttelton. 
It  is  always  easier  preaching  to  men  who  come 
voluntarily,  because  one  can  count  on  a  certain 


142   AT  THE  FRONT  WITH  GENERAL  BULLER 

amount  of  interest  and  sympathy.  And  I  dare- 
say it  requires  a  little  courage  to  attend  a 
voluntary  service.  Hill  read  the  prayers,  and 
we  had  several  hymns.  I  preached  from  the 
second  lesson :  ''  When  they  saw  the  boldness 
of  Peter  .  .  .  they  marvelled  and  took  know- 
ledge," etc. 

Monday,  Jan.  8. — Colonel  Byng  told  us  that 
his  men  had  been  having  a  little  chaff  with  the 
Boers  through  the  heliograph.  Our  men  asked 
them  whether  they  preferred  an  assault,  and 
whether  they  would  rather  have  Cecil  Rhodes 
or  Winston  Churchill  as  President,  and  begged 
them  not  to  dig  those  trenches  too  deep  or 
they  would  get  through  to  England,  etc.,  etc. 
Mr.  Ruskin  is  right  in  *'  The  Crown  of  Wild 
Olives  "  :  war  is  just  a  big  exciting  game  with 
all  these  light-hearted  young  officers.  After 
dinner  the  rain  began,  and  it  poured.  It  is  very 
funny  work  being  in  a  tent  in  a  storm,  which 
makes  such  a  deafening  clatter  on  the  canvas 
all  round,  and  where  there  are  drops  dripping 
all  about  the  place.  I  put  my  waterproof  over 
my  bed  to  keep  it  dry,  while  I  investigated  as 
to  the  driest  parts,  and  moved  books,  etc.,  out 
of  range  of  the  drops,  and  made  all  as  snug 
and  tight  for  the  night  as  I  could.  It  dripped 
less   when  the   canvas  was  once  well  wetted, 


FLOODS  143 

and  I  slept  excellently ;  and  as  it  was  still  rain- 
ing hard  in  the  morning,  there  was  less  induce- 
ment to  get  up  early.  The  man  brought  my 
tub  at  5.30,  but  I  stayed  in  bed  till  7. 

Tuesday,  Jan.  9. — When  I  looked  out,  the 
camp  of  the  Scottish  Fusiliers  just  below  us  in 
the  plain  looked  like  a  lake,  and  the  60th  not 
much  better.  Poor  chaps  ! — when  one  thinks  of 
fifteen  or  sixteen  privates  in  one  tent  with  only 
a  waterproof  sheet  and  a  blanket,  one  feels  a 
very  luxurious  person  with  a  tent  all  to  one- 
self But  it  is  wonderful  how  little  they  seem 
to  suffer.  Exercise  keeps  them  warm,  though 
all  their  clothes  are  wet. 

When  I  went  down  to  the  hospital  I  had 
almost  to  wade  through  small  rivers,  and 
constantly  to  splash  through  ground  as  wet 
as  the  sand-pools  on  the  shore  at  low  water. 
On  my  way  back  the  little  river  here — the 
Blauwkrantz — was  a  sight.  As  I  crossed  be- 
fore, the  stepping-stones  were  quite  covered 
and  I  had  made  use  of  the  new  Trestle  Rail- 
way Bridge  which  the  Engineers  built  to  take 
the  place  of  the  iron  bridge  totally  wrecked  by 
the  Boers.  But  on  my  way  back  the  river 
had  become  a  turbid  flood,  and  two  wagons 
were  stuck  in  the  middle,  with  the  mules  and 
oxen  in  a  regular  mess  all  down  the  middle  of 


144   AT  THE  FRONT  WITH  GENERAL  BULLER 

the  Stream.  Natives  were  loosening  them  and 
bringing  them  out  one  by  one,  and  then  were 
getting  ropes  fastened  to  the  cart  and  the 
wagon.  A  soldier  was  sitting  quite  uncon- 
cerned in  his  big  overcoat  on  the  cart  already 
half  overturned,  and  I  expected  every  minute 
to  see  him  capsized  into  the  flood,  and  unable 
to  swim  in  his  coat.  However,  I  believe  he 
got  out  safely.  In  the  afternoon  we  went  down 
to  see  the  Engineers  make  a  pontoon  bridge 
across,  as  it  was  doubtful  whether  all  the 
wagons  could  get  through.  It  is  difficult  to 
picture  the  enormous  activity  and  business  of 
a  camp  like  this — hundreds  of  wagons,  thou- 
sands of  oxen  and  mules  with  all  their  native 
drivers,  hospitals  (four  camps  of  tents  here), 
engineers,  gunners,  ordnance,  supply  pack 
(alone  having  hundreds  of  wagons  drawn  up 
in  long  lines  along  the  hill),  traction  engines, 
and  a  dozen  other  departments,  besides  all  the 
regiments.  After  the  Royal  Engineers  had 
got  four  pontoons  out,  it  seemed  that  the  river 
was  falling  so  fast  that  it  was  unnecessary  to 
go  on. 

The  orders  have  come.  I  am  attached  to 
the  5th  Division,  of  which  General  Lyttelton's 
Brigade  now  forms  part,  and  we  are  to  start 
for  a  night  march  to  Springfield  on  the  Tugela 


AN    ARMY    IN    MOTION  I45 

— the  probable  site  of  the  next  great  battle — 
to-morrow  night.  We  are  to  start  at  6.  It  is 
seventeen  miles,  and  they  say  it  will  take  us 
nearly  seventeen  hours — so  slowly  does  a 
column  move.  May  we  be  saved  from  a  pour- 
ing wet  night ! 

Wednesday,  Jan.  lo.  —  Packed  up  all  our 
effects  at  Frere  for  the  night  march.  There 
is  something  almost  uncanny  in  the  way  in 
which  a  populous  city  suddenly  reverts  to  bare 
and  solitary  veldt.  Yesterday,  after  the  rain, 
the  whole  countryside  was  teeming  with  thou- 
sands ploughing  through  the  mud,  crossing  and 
recrossing  and  swarming  over  the  whole  broad 
plain,  and  this  evening  we  sat  on  our  little  hill 
looking  down  on  the  empty  veldt,  except  for 
the  long  snake-like  line  of  wagons,  wagons, 
wagons,  each  with  their  eighteen  oxen,  and  then 
ambulances,  ammunition  columns,  engineers' 
carts,  pontoon  wagons,  etc.,  etc.  One  cannot 
realize  what  an  army  in  motion  means  until 
one  sees  it.  The  whole  long  day  they  have 
been  passing.  It  was  a  lovely  night  when  we 
started,  with  a  bright  moon  a  little  past  the  half 
but  still  twilight.  When  we  had  reached  the 
top  of  the  hill  where  Sir  Charles  Warren  had 
been  dining  on  the  veldt,  there  was  a  halt. 
The  orderlies  held  our  horses,  and  I  chatted 

L 


146   AT  THE  FRONT  WITH  GENERAL  BULLER 

with  Sir  C.  Warren,  and  then  with  some  of  the 
men.  The  latter  seemed  rather  surprised  at 
my  coming  with  them.  Then  at  last  the  long 
train  got  in  motion  again  and  we  were  off  in 
earnest.  The  General  (Lyttelton)  and  his 
A.D.C.  (Buller)  and  his  Brigade  Major  (Wilson) 
and  his  D.A.A.G.  (Bailey)  and  I,  and  then  two 
local  guides  and  a  young  signalling  officer — 
North ey  of  the  Durham  Light  Infantry — 
formed  our  party. 

I  watched  the  weather  anxiously,  for  it  had 
been  raining  in  the  Drakensberg  on  and  off  all 
the  afternoon,  and  this  time  of  the  year  thunder- 
storms are  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception. 
When  it  got  quite  dark  we  saw  very  frequent 
lightning  to  the  west,  and  as  it  lit  up  the  sky 
one  could  see  a  heavy  rain-storm  passing  by  us. 
The  question  was,  would  it  reach  us  ?  For  now 
I  discovered  we  had  parted  with  our  baggage 
for  an  indefinite  time,  and  we  had  only  what 
was  on  the  saddles  to  trust  to  for  one  night  at 
least.  It  is  an  eerie  thing  marching  in  the 
dark  or  intermittent  moonlight  through  a 
country  where  the  enemy  may  appear  at  any 
moment.  True,  we  had  a  whole  brigade  in 
front ;  but  that  would  not  prevent  the  mobile 
Boers  from  making  a  dash  at  our  flank  or  sniping 
from  the  hills.     Then  the  edge  of  the  storm 


P4 

o 

H 

i< 

<     K 


A    NIGHT    MARCH  1 47 

caught  US.  It  came  with  a  sudden  blast  of 
wind  and  a  deluge  of  rain.  It  is  impossible  to 
keep  one's  knees  and  feet  dry  on  horseback  in 
spite  of  waterproof,  and  I  was  soon  pretty  wet. 
We  had  constant  little  stops,  owing  to  wagons 
sticking,  and  the  horses  instinctively  turned 
their  backs  to  the  storm.  In  a  few  minutes, 
what  with  the  hundreds  of  wagons  and  the 
trampling  of  horses  and  men,  the  road  was  a  sea 
of  mud,  and  the  moon  being  hidden  it  was 
dark.  Imagine  that  great  silent,  rumbling, 
crawling  line  miles  and  miles  long,  ploughing 
slowly  and  laboriously  through  the  mud.  We 
had  two  drifts  to  cross,  where  there  was  much 
delay.  At  the  second  a  temporary  wooden 
bridge  had  been  made  for  the  men  to  cross, 
about  1 50  yards  east  of  the  road.  We  all  rode 
over  the  grass  amid  the  chaos  of  wagons  (many 
of  them  General  Hart's,  now  outspanned),  and 
sat  on  our  horses  while  the  infantry  battalions 
filed  over,  and  then  we  rode  back  and  through 
the  ford.  The  mud  on  the  steep  slope  of  the 
opposite  bank  was  churned  up  three  feet  deep 
in  places,  and  the  prospect  of  wagons  getting 
through  got  less  and  less. 

Soon  after  this  second  drift  we  reached  the 
place  (Pretorius  Farm)  where  we  were  to 
bivouac  till  daylight.     There  was   nothing  to 


148   AT  THE  FRONT  WITH  GENERAL  BULLER 

distinguish  it  from  the  veldt  around,  the  farm- 
house being  a  mile  or  two  away.  There  is 
no  knowing  what  you  can  do  till  you  try.  To 
be  landed  at  midnight,  after  a  wet  and  muddy 
ride,  on  a  hillside  of  wet  long  grass,  without 
other  equipment  than  you  have  on,  and  to 
have  to  sleep  (or  lie  awake)  there  for  five  hours 
of  the  coldest  part  of  the  night  with  things 
already  wet  through,  would  seem  at  ordinary 
times  a  thing  simply  impossible  ;  but  when  you 
try  you  find  it  is  not.  However,  they  were 
indulgent  to  me.  They  got  the  General  and 
me  a  stretcher  each  out  of  an  ambulance 
wagon,  and  they  had  brought  a  waterproof 
sheet  on  a  pack-pony  (which  fortunately  I 
had  asked  them  to  requisition  for  me).  The 
stretcher  is  canvas  on  two  poles,  lifted  by  a  sort 
of  castors  just  off  the  ground  (about  an  inch). 
Imagine  us  now  a  black  mass  on  the  ground — 
an  army  laid  flat — the  60th  Rifles  as  a  dark 
square  mass  below,  and  the  Durham  Light 
Infantry,  a  dark  square  mass  above,  with  an 
aisle  between  of  about  eight  yards  ;  and  just 
opposite  this  aisle,  and  about  twenty  yards  from 
the  regiments,  our  little  company  of  five. 

Our  cook.  Sergeant  Cox,  got  some  materials 
from  our  pack-pony,  and  set  to  work  to  make  a 
fire  and  warm  some  soup.    We  had  had  nothing 


AN   UNCOMFORTABLE    NIGHT  1 49 

since  afternoon  tea.  It  took  some  time  to 
make  the  fire,  and  when  the  soup  was  heated 
it  was  so  hot  in  metal  mugs  that  one  had 
another  long  wait.  I  was  sleepy  then  and 
could  have  gone  off  comfortably ;  but  by  the 
time  the  soup  was  despatched  I  was  wide  awake 
again.  However,  at  last  I  did  get  off  to  sleep, 
wrapped  in  a  big  waterproof  sheet  to  keep  my- 
self warm  like  a  wet  compress ;  but  I  woke 
again  very  soon  and  was  shivering.  I  knew 
that  would  not  do.  I  was  afraid  of  rheumatism 
or  pneumonia ;  so  I  got  up  and  walked  up  and 
down.  The  other  fellows  were  snoring  heavily 
close  by,  and  I  envied  them.  Twenty  yards 
away  was  a  sentry  marching  up  and  down,  so  I 
went  up  to  him  and  asked  him  not  to  challenge 
me  as  I  was  walking  to  get  warm.  The  grass 
was  very  wet,  but  wet  does  not  matter  if  only 
you  can  keep  warm.  My  walk  was  limited,  as  I 
did  not  want  to  go  beyond  my  sentry  and  get 
into  another  one.  But  after  an  hour  of  pacing 
to  and  fro  wrapped  in  my  waterproof  sheet  I 
got  up  a  glow.  It  was  a  lovely  starlight  night 
(the  moon  had  set).  It  was  strangely  weird — 
a  solitary  figure  pacing  up  and  down  beside 
those  dense  masses  of  sleeping  men  and  pray- 
ing for  them.  Then  I  lay  down  again,  but 
could  not  sleep.      I   lay  looking  at  the  stars. 


150      AT    THE    FRONT    WITH    GENERAL    BULLER 

Before  daylight,  at  the  first  gray  streaks  of 
dawn,  the  men  began  to  move  about.  We  had 
been  told  to  be  ready  to  start  again  any  time 
after  four,  when  Sir  Charles  Warren  sent  us 
word. 

Thursday,  Jan.  1 1. — It  was  a  lovely  morning, 
and  except  for  having  no  sleep  I  was  happy. 
The  country  beyond  Pretorius  Farm  towards 
Springfield  on  the  Little  Tugela  opened  out 
and  was  fine,  as  the  Drakensberg  was  full  in 
view.  We  had  a  ten  minutes'  halt  on  a  farm 
(not  a  house)  called  Kirk  Plaats.  Then  on 
again  :  our  long,  snake-like  train  winding  along 
before  and  behind.  At  last  we  reached  Spring- 
field Bridge  (about  eight  or  ten  miles,  I  think). 
This  spans  the  Little  Tugela,  and  we  don't 
quite  know  why  the  Boers  did  not  blow  it  up. 
The  conjecture  is  that  the  neighbourhood  being 
mostly  Dutch,  they  refrained  in  consideration  of 
the  convenience  of  the  farmers.  Originally  we 
were  only  to  march  thus  far ;  but  news  had 
come  in  that  Lord  Dundonald  had  gone  right 
through  to  Potgieters — a  hill  overlooking  the 
big  Tugela — unopposed,  and  had  taken  the 
punt  at  the  crossing.  So  it  was  left  to  General 
Lyttelton's  discretion  whether  he  should  go 
straight  on  to  support  Lord  Dundonald.  Mur- 
ray (A.D.C.)  met  us  and  told  us  where  they 


A    MID-DAY    HALT  I5I 

were,  and  at  the  bridge  we  found  Graham  with 
Irregular  Cavalry  and  Colonel  Burn  Murdoch 
with  his  I  St  Royal  Dragoon  Guards.  The  latter 
had  gone  on  early  to  hold  the  bridge. 

Lord    Dundonald  being   all   right,   General 
Lyttelton  decided  to  halt  from    1 1  (when  we 
arrived)  till  4,  and  then  to  go  on  three  miles  more 
to  a  farm  we  could  see  where  there  was  water, 
and  bivouac  there  for  the  night,  going  on  early 
next  morning.     The  sun  was  now  terrible,  and 
there  was  no  shade.    We  made  a  tiny  screen  by 
tying  our  waterproof  sheets  to  stacked  rifles — 
just  enough  shade  to  get  our  heads  under.  There 
presently  we  had  luncheon.     Oh !  the  joy   of 
''Sparklets"!    I  have  lately  invested  in  them, 
but  they  all  have  them.     They  make  aerated 
water  in  a  moment  by  discharging  a  little  bomb 
full  of  gas  into  a  bottle  of  water.    Then  we  lay 
down  under  our  little  awning  and  tried  to  sleep. 
A  strange  sight — close  to  the  road — under  this 
improvised  tent,  a  General  and  a  Bishop  full 
length  upon  the  ground.    Such  extremities  does 
war  reduce  one  to.     Again  I  was  jealous  of  my 
neighbours — the  General  and  Bailey  both  snor- 
ing, while  I  could  not  lose  myself,  and  my  head 
was  bad  again.     At  last  I   walked  across  the 
burning  plain   to  the  river — full,  muddy,  and 
rushing.    The  very  sound  was  cooling,  and  there 


152   AT  THE  FRONT  WITH  GENERAL  BULLER 

I  found  a  woody  little  cliff  with  an  overhanging 
rock,  beneath  which  at  last  I  had  the  shade  I 
had  longed  for.  How  often  now  one  feels  the 
force  of  the  Bible  metaphor — *'  The  shadow  of 
a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land."  I  lay  down 
there  all  by  myself  (though  Tommies  were 
bathing  all  up  and  down  the  river) — another 
boon  among  these  constant  crowds — and  I 
really  did  doze  for  a  few  minutes.  But  then  I 
found  it  was  past  4,  at  which  time  the  column 
was  to  start,  and  I  feared  I  should  be  left 
behind.  When  I  got  up  the  river  bank  I  saw 
the  column  winding  along  the  road.  The 
General  had  gone.  However,  an  orderly  was 
there  with  my  pony.  And  the  column  moves  so 
slowly  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  overtaking  it. 
I  rode  some  way  with  a  young  gunner  officer, 
and  then  cantered  on  to  overtake  my  General. 
There  was  another  bad  drift  which  was  block- 
ing the  way,  and  the  infantry  regiments  were 
all  sitting  down,  waiting  for  their  turn  to  cross. 
At  last  I  reached  the  farm  (Beyer's),  owned  by 
a  Dutchman,  who,  though  no  doubt  friendly  to 
the  Boers,  had  remained  at  home  and  not  joined 
them.  As  soon  as  the  tent  was  cleared,  I  got 
to  bed — my  kind  friend  Sackville-West  had 
given  me  his  camp-bed  and  two  blankets. 
Friday^  Jan,  12. — I  had  a  good  night,  though 


ON    THE    MARCH  153 

we  had  to  be  stirring  again  at  3.30,  as  breakfast 
was  to  be  at  4  in  my  tent.  I  had  not  taken 
off  much,  so  I  was  soon  dressed,  and  begged  a 
wash  from  another  tent  basin.  Lord  Gerard, 
A.D.C.,  was  also  very  kind  to  me.  We  had 
tea  and  biscuits.  Several  of  them  had  tinned 
fish,  and  we  were  in  the  saddle  again  at  5. 
We  had  not  a  long  march  before  us,  only  about 
six  miles ;  but  it  was  lucky  the  enemy  had 
fallen  back  across  the  Tugela,  as  we  had  to  pass 
between  hills  from  which  they  could  have 
destroyed  us.  The  country  was  improving  in 
appearance  as  we  got  on.  General  Buller  has 
taken  up  his  quarters  at  a  farmhouse  be- 
longing to  another  Pretorius,  said  to  be  a 
prisoner  (?)  with  the  Boers.  I  rode  on  from 
there  alone  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  as  I  was  most 
anxious  to  get  the  view  we  were  told  of  right 
over  the  Tugela  and  the  Boer  lines.  The  hill 
slopes  up  gradually  on  this  side  with  occasional 
trees,  and  drops  abruptly  with  thick  bush- 
covered  sides  into  the  Tugela  beyond. 

I  found  Lord  Dundonald's  camp  and  Murray 
on  the  top,  and  they  kindly  offered  me  breakfast. 
General  Lyttelton  and  Lord  Dundonald  break- 
fasted too ;  and  then  I  wandered  into  the  bush 
on  the  steep  side  of  the  hill  overlooking  the 
Tugela,  where  I  smoked  my  pipe.     It  is  a  most 


T54   AT  THE  FRONT  WITH  GENERAL  BULLER 

wonderful  position.  First  of  all,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  spots  in  Natal.  This  high  hill, 
with  its  sides  thickly  covered  with  aloes,  sugar- 
bush,  and  other  semi-tropical  plants,  looks  right 
down  on  the  winding  Tugela  valley,  and  on  to 
the  high  hills  on  the  north  side  between  here 
and  Colenso  (all  held  by  the  Boers).  Then  on 
all  other  sides  it  commands  enormous  landscapes 
— to  the  north  you  look  down  on  a  hazy  plain 
(really  hills  and  valleys)  stretching  right  away 
beyond  Ladysmith  to  the  Indumeni  above 
Dundee,  standing  out  quite  clear  on  the 
horizon,  with  Lombard's  Kop  and  Umbulwana 
in  the  middle  distance.  To  the  west  from 
north  to  south  stretches  the  great  range  of  the 
Drakensberg  with  the  inaccessible  peaks  of  the 
Mont  aux  Sources,  and  to  the  south  the  various 
ridges  towards  Estcourt  and  Maritzburg.  It  is 
an  all-round  view,  with  no  interruption  in  any 
direction.  Then,  when  Murray  brought  his 
telescope  and  explained  the  position,  the  in- 
terest grew  more  vivid  and  exciting.  For  there 
we  could  see  (even  through  the  telescope  look- 
ing no  bigger  than  ants)  the  Boers  riding  from 
the  east  to  the  west  to  occupy  these  new  hills 
which  we  are  threatening.  I  counted  about 
1 20  passing.  Then,  looking  along  the  lower 
hills   and  kopjes  which  skirt   the  meandering 


VIEW    FROM    SPEARMAN  S    HILL  I  55 

river  on  the  north,  one  could  make  out  long 
lines  of  intrenchments,  and  could  see  the  Boers 
at  work  in  them  with  pick  and  shovel.  At 
Colenso  we  could  see  nothing,  but  here  with  a 
good  glass  one  can  see  line  after  line  of  earth- 
works and  watch  the  Boers  shovelling  out  the 
earth,  and  making  rifle-pits  and  gun  emplace- 
ments, and  see  them  riding  to  and  fro  and  stand- 
ing and  sitting  on  hill-tops  watching  us.  It  is 
a  unique  position  thus  to  be  able  to  look  across 
the  valleys  and  see  your  enemy  and  all  his 
works.  The  part  they  seem  to  be  giving  their 
chief  attention  to  is  the  road  leading  up  from 
the  drift.  It  first  passes  through  some  small 
kopjes,  then  emerges  into  a  perfectly  smooth 
and  slightly  inclined  plain.  Then  it  winds  up 
between  some  more  kopjes  into  large  plains 
above.  Once  these  are  reached  the  road  lies 
open  and  more  or  less  flat  to  Ladysmith.  But 
it  is  a  terrible  position  for  us.  The  river  in  its 
windings  hems  us  in  on  three  sides,  while  on 
the  fourth  side  are  fortified  hills,  and  between 
the  drift  and  the  hills  open  ground  where  rifles 
would  sweep  the  board. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE    • 

Spearman's  Hill  —  "  Misunderstood  "  —  A  Volunteer 
Gunner  —  View  of  the  Boer  Position  —  Heliographing  — 
Science  in  Warfare — A  Brigade  Major's  Quarters — Bal- 
looning— A  Deserter  from  the  Enemy — Boers  and  Clothes 
—Khaki. 

Spearman's  Hill  is  a  magnificent  spot. 
Gently  ascending  from  the  south,  one  suddenly 
finds  oneself  at  the  edge  of  its  crest,  looking 
down  on  the  plain  of  the  Tugela  some  800  feet 
immediately  below  ;  then,  five  miles  away,  a  low 
range  of  kopjes ;  and  beyond  them  a  rolling 
plain  extending  amid  broken  hills  for  seventy 
miles  to  where  in  the  north  one  can  see  Indu- 
meni,  the  mountain  at  Dundee,  round  which 
General  Yule  retreated,  and,  more  to  the  west, 
the  long  wall  of  the  Drakensberg,  with  its  quaint 
castle-like  ramparts.  The  steep  face  of  the  hill 
towards  the  Tugela  is  covered  with  thick  bush — 
not  the  usual  bush  of  the  mountain  districts  of 
Natal,  the  stink-wood,  yellow-wood,  and  sneeze- 
wood,   as   the    indigenous    trees  are   not  very 


SPEARMAN  S    HILL  1 57 

euphoniously  called,  but  the  bush  of  the  hot 
river  valleys — mimosa,  with  its  tufts  of  yellow, 
sweet-smelling  flower,  now  in  full  bloom,  and 
aloe,  with  its  spiky  leaves  and  its  flower  like  a 
red-hot  poker.  To  know  the  joy  of  a  tree  and 
its  shade  one  needs  to  have  a  few  weeks  of 
camp  life  in  such  places  as  Chieveley  and  Frere, 
where  there  is  not  a  tree  to  relieve  the  awful 
glare  of  the  sun,  to  ward  off  from  6  a.m.  to 
6  p.m.  what  Browning  calls  **  those  sunbeams 
like  swords,"  places  in  which  one  simply  longs 
for  sunset. 

So  the  morning  on  which,  after  a  memorable 
night  march,  we  reached  Spearman's,  after 
breakfasting  with  Lord  Dundonald,  whose 
brigade  had  occupied  the  position  the  day  be- 
fore, I  strolled  with  much  delight  down  the 
bush-covered  slopes  to  enjoy  a  pipe  amid  the 
welcome  shade,  and  pass  half  an  hour  till  a 
friend  had  had  his  breakfast  and  could  fulfil  his 
promise  to  point  out  to  me  all  the  features  of 
the  Boer  position  opposite  us. 

It  was  here  that  an  amusing  incident  hap- 
pened. When  my  pipe  was  done  I  returned 
from  the  bush  and  emerged  from  it  over  the 
crest  of  the  hill  just  where  a  "Colt"  gun  was 
stationed.  This  was  a  new  thing  to  me,  and  I 
was  curious  to  examine  it.     I  got  into  conversa- 


158  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

tlon  with  the  young  soldier  who  was  evidently 
in  charge  of  it,  and  while  we  were  talking  a 
sergeant  came  up.  He  took  advantage  of  the 
first  lull  In  the  conversation  to  ask  me  if  I  could 
tell  him  who  was  the  chaplain  with  this  division. 
I  told  him  the  name,  and  then  he  asked  me  with 
great  apparent  interest  where  the  gentleman  had 
been  last  stationed.  I  said,  **  Well,  I  think  It 
was  Colchester  —  but  why  ?  —  do  you  know 
him  ?  "  *'  No,  sir,  I  can't  say  I  do  ;  but  perhaps 
you  could  tell  me  the  name  of  one  of  the  other 
chaplains."  Getting  interested  in  this  '*  anxious 
inquirer,"  who  was  so  concerned  to  find  a  chap- 
lain whom  he  knew,  I  told  him  what  I  could, 
but  even  so  he  did  not  seem  satisfied.  I  felt 
that  there  was  more  behind,  something  on  his 
mind.  And  then  he  said,  "  And  might  I  ask 
your  name,  sir  ?  ''  I  told  him  I  was  the  Bishop 
of  Natal,  and  then  he  said,  "Well,  you  must 
excuse  me,  sir,  but  we  have  to  be  very  careful." 
And  then  at  last  It  began  to  dawn  on  me  that 
his  great  interest  was  hardly  of  a  religious  char- 
acter, but  that  as  I  had  appeared  from  the 
direction  of  the  enemy,  suddenly  emerging  from 
the  bush  leading  up  from  the  Tugela  valley, 
and  as  I  had  shown  a  suspicious  interest  In  his 
own  Colt  gun,  which  I  doubt  not  was  as  the  apple 
of  his  eye,  he  was  not  at  all  sure  that  I  was  not 


A   VOLUNTEER    GUNNER  I  59 

a  Boer  spy  who  had  come  on  the  chance  of 
applying  a  dose  of  gun-cotton  to  his  pet  gun. 
And  I  heard  afterwards  from  the  young  officer 
with  whom  I  had  been  in  conversation  that  even 
after  this  the  sergeant  watched  me  uneasily  till 
he  saw  me  sit  down  at  the  table  with  Lord 
Dundonald,  and  then  at  last  he  thought  he 
might  shift  the  responsibility  for  so  suspicious  a 
person  to  the  General  of  his  brigade. 

I  say  **  the  young  officer,"  but  that  is  not 
strictly  correct,  and  here  I  may  pause  to  give  a 
**  tip"  to  those  numerous  young  gentlemen  from 
all  over  the  world  who  flock  to  South  Africa 
just  now  with  the  one  ambition  of  getting  to  the 
front  and  being  taken  on  in  some  capacity  as 
fighters.  This  particular  young  man  belonged 
to  that  class,  as  I  afterwards  ascertained,  and 
happening  to  come  out  in  the  ship  which  brought 
this  Colt  gun,  he  made  a  point  of  studying  it  and 
making  friends  with  its  guardians,  so  that  when 
they  landed  he  was  somewhat  of  an  expert  in 
its  use.  On  the  strength  of  this  he  managed  to 
get  permission  to  accompany  it  to  the  front,  and, 
being  a  good  fellow  (that  is  half  the  battle),  he 
was  taken  on  by  Lord  Dundonald.  And  in 
time  his  chance  came.  At  a  reconnaissance  at 
Colenso  he  was  working  the  gun  when  a  Mauser 
bullet  scratched  him  all  down  the  back,  another 


l6o  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

made  a  hole  in  the  sleeve  of  his  coat,  and  a  third 
went  through  his  leg  just  above  the  ankle. 
Fortunately,  none  of  the  wounds  were  serious, 
but  they  were  painful  at  the  time,  and  as,  in 
spite  of  this,  he  stuck  to  his  gun.  Lord  Dun- 
donald  was  so  pleased  with  him  that  I  hear  he 
is  likely  to  get  a  commission.  It  is  no  doubt  a 
rare  thing  for  a  man  who  has  no  status,  who  has 
had  no  training,  who  is  not  even  a  private  or  a 
trooper,  to  become  an  officer,  but  there  are  no 
limits  to  the  possibilities  in  war  time,  and 
'*  Fortune  favours  the  brave." 

After  breakfast  my  friend  (Murray  of  the 
Black  Watch,  Lord  Dundonald's  A.D.C.)  took 
me  to  a  point  of  the  hill  from  which  we  could 
get  a  simply  splendid  view  of  the  Boer  positions. 
When  you  have  been,  as  at  Chieveley,  in  a 
position  from  which  nothing  can  be  seen  of  the 
enemy,  it  is  distinctly  refreshing  to  be  on  a  hill 
from  which  he  can  be  overlooked.  With  a  good 
glass  we  could  see  all  his  devices.  Beginning 
on  our  right,  where  the  range  of  hills  extending 
from  Colenso  (called  Doornkop,  I  gather  from 
the  papers)  falls  to  the  plain,  we  could  see  large 
numbers  of  mounted  Boers  trekking  in  twos 
and  threes  westward,  evidently  having  got  news 
of  our  move,  and  coming  to  reinforce  the  trenches 
opposite  us  here.     Then  came  a  line  of  kopjes 


THE    BOER    POSITION  l6l 

about  200  feet  high,  which  we  learnt  afterwards 
to  call  ''  Vaal  Kranz  "  ;  then,  with  a  slight  break, 
Brakfontein,  a  hill  slightly  higher  than  the  rest 
of  the  range,  and  standing  a  little  forward,  like 
the  bastion  of  a  fort ;  then  the  lowest  point  of 
the  ridge  over  which  the  road  passes  from  Pot- 
gieter's  to  Ladysmith  ;  then  the  lower  shoulders 
of  Spion  Kop  ;  and  then,  quite  on  the  extreme 
left,  Spion  Kop  itself,  with  its  three  summits, 
the  first  a  pointed  one,  the  second  two  round 
hummocks.  (In  all  the  maps  Spion  Kop  is 
marked  about  five  miles  too  far  to  the  west,  and 
this  has  confused  all  the  accounts  of  the  fighting. 
Writers  have  tried,  quite  hopelessly,  to  rewrite 
the  descriptions  with  the  maps,  and  the  result 
has  been  dire  confusion.  Spion  Kop  should  be 
close  to  the  bend  of  the  river  immediately  west 
of  Potgieter's  Drift.)  From  Doornkop  on  our 
right  to  the  southern  slope  of  Spion  Kop  on  our 
left  was  a  circuit  of  half  the  horizon.  The  whole 
of  this  was  well  fortified  :  trench  after  trench 
the  whole  way  round,  and  in  many  cases  the 
trenches  double  or  treble,  and  across  the  Lady- 
smith  road  an  immense  trench,  extending  from 
a  donga  on  the  one  side  to  a  donga  on  the 
other,  about  200  yards  or  more  in  length. 
Here  and  there  on  the  prominent  points  of  the 
hills  were  gun  emplacements — some  of  them, 

M 


l62  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

indeed,  obviously  dummies  to  attract  our  artil- 
lery fire,  but  others  looking  more  like  business. 
But  another  advantage  of  this  position  was 
the  view  it  afforded  towards  Ladysmith.  From 
time  to  time  we  could  see  shells  burst  which 
must  have  been  fired  by  our  friends  in  Lady- 
smith  at  the  Boer  guns  on  Lombard's  Kop  and 
Umbulwana.  I  felt  sure  we  must  be  within 
heliographing  range  of  some  part  of  the  Lady- 
smith  defences.  That  same  afternoon  I  was  on 
the  top  of  that  part  of  Spearman's  Hill  which 
has  been  called  Mount  Alice ;  and  though  the 
signallers  had  been  attempting  to  find  Ladysmith 
all  the  morning  and  the  afternoon  before  in  vain, 
they  still  persevered,  and  I  pointed  out  to  them 
where  I  expected  to  get  a  reply.  All  at  once, 
while  I  was  talking  with  them,  a  flash  appeared, 
but  a  good  deal  further  west  than  the  spot  I 
had  indicated.  I  felt  sceptical  about  it.  Often 
before  now  we  have  got  into  communication 
with  the  Boers  instead  of  our  own  people.  So 
we  proceeded  to  put  test  questions  to  the  sig- 
nallers at  the  other  end.  We  asked  who  was 
the  signalling  officer.  The  answer  came  back, 
'*  Captain  Walker."  That  was  right,  but  Mr. 
Bennet  Burleigh,  who  came  up  at  that  moment, 
was  still  more  sure  than  I  had  been  that  the 
flash  was  too  much  to  the  west  to  be  our  own 


A   CHAT    BY    HELIOGRAPH  1 63 

people.  He  was  still  not  satisfied,  and  thought 
the  Boers  might  quite  well  know  the  name  of 
Captain  Walker.  So  we  asked  next,  '*  By  what 
ship  did  you  travel  with  Mr.  Bennet  Burleigh  ?  " 
and  the  answer  came  back  at  once,  "  By  the 
Grantully  Castle,  when  you  were  on  your  way  to 
Madagascar."  That  settled  the  point  beyond 
all  dispute,  to  our  great  delight.  We  had  a  long 
and  informal  chat  with  our  friends  at  the  other 
helio.  They  asked  us  if  we  could  hear  the 
bombarding,  as  they  were  at  that  moment  under 
shrapnel  fire,  and  we  must  not  therefore  be  sur- 
prised if  they  knocked  off  work  suddenly  at  any 
moment.  Curiously  enough,  we  could  not  hear 
a  sound.  They  were  intensely  eager  to  hear 
all  about  our  movements,  and  where  we  were 
signalling  from,  and  what  the  hopes  of  a  speedy 
relief  were.  We  answered  as  much  as  we  dared. 
But,  of  course,  we  could  not  be  sure  whether 
any  Boers  on  the  line  of  the  flash  were  reading 
our  messages,  so  we  had  to  leave  the  most  in- 
teresting bits  of  news  to  be  sent  later  by  a 
cipher  message.  Meanwhile,  as  no  official 
messages  were  going  through  for  the  time,  I 
was  able  to  take  advantage  of  the  helio  to  send 
several  private  messages  through  to  friends  in 
Ladysmith.  I  was  able  to  tell  one  man  that  his 
wife  and  family  had  landed  safe  in  England. 


164  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

To  another  I  mentioned  the  fact  that  we  were 
very  badly  off  in  a  building  operation  for  want 
of  ;^i,ooo  which  he  had,  along  with  others, 
made  himself  responsible  for.  Curiously  enough, 
I  got  no  answer  to  this.  Perhaps  he  thought 
that  to  be  shelled  daily,  and  fed  on  bully-beef 
for  three  months,  was  public  spirit  enough  with- 
out being  asked  for  ^^  1,000;  or  perhaps  he 
did  not  get  the  message,  for  I  heard  soon  after 
that  he  was  down  with  fever,  poor  man. 

The  application  of  science  to  modern  warfare 
is  certainly  one  of  the  most  interesting  parts  of 
the  campaign  ;  and  your  respect  for  the  grimy- 
looking  gentlemen  in  khaki  enormously  in- 
creases when  you  find  that,  so  far  from  being  a 
mere  ''absent-minded  beggar,"  one  is  an  expert 
in  signalling,  and  another  is  a  telegraphist,  and 
another  accomplished  in  the  knowledge  and 
practice  of  ballooning.  However  fast  a  column 
advances,  the  telegraph  wire  is  still  well  to  the 
front.  Just  outside  my  tent  was  a  two-wheeled 
cart.  On  it  was  a  big  roller  from  which  the 
wire  had  been  unrolled  as  we  proceeded.  It  is 
dropped  along  the  veldt  quite  casually,  but  there 
are  no  accidents.  Your  horse  trips  in  it  some- 
times, but  neither  he  nor  the  wire  is  any  the 
worse.  And  then  follow  the  Royal  Engineers 
with  poles,  and  very  soon  the  line  is  quite  an 


A  brigade-major's  quarters  165 

orthodox  affair  properly  mounted  on  black  and 
white  poles  like  a  barber's  sign.  Meanwhile 
on  the  same  telegraph  cart  at  the  end  of  the 
wire  there  is  a  small  machine  which  keeps  buzz- 
ing its  all-important  messages  in  a  pertinacious 
and  garrulous  way.  And  at  night  the  telegraph 
clerk  sleeps  with  this  instrument  to  his  ears. 
But  he  must  be  an  expert  in  sleeping  too,  to  be 
able  to  get  any  rest  under  such  circumstances, 
with  this  still  small  voice  like  an  uneasy  con- 
science uttering  its  insistent  message. 

For  real  repose  I  do  not  recommend  inquirers 
to  share  the  tent  of  a  Brigade- Major,  as  I  did 
for  a  week  or  two.  He  may  be  the  most 
charming  of  men,  as  he  was  in  this  case,  but  as 
he  is  the  General's  ear  (as  an  Archdeacon  is  a 
Bishop's  eye)  his  nights  are  apt  to  be  disturbed. 
You  have  at  last  just  got  off  to  sleep  after 
waking  suddenly  several  times  with  a  start  to 
ascertain  whether  rifle  firing  is  going  on,  which 
you  discover  on  investigation  to  be  the  flapping 
of  a  tent-rope  or  the  dropping  of  rain  upon  the 
canvas.  Just  as  the  delicious  unconsciousness 
is  stealing  over  you,  a  hoarse  whisper  is  heard 
outside,  and  as  the  Brigade-Major  is  a  heavy 
sleeper,  you  have  to  reply  to  it ;  and  then  in 
comes  a  sergeant  to  tell  him  that  No.  2  Picket 
reports  that  a  number  of  Boers  are   moving 


1 66  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

eastward  along  the  other  bank  of  the  river.  An 
exciting  whispered  conversation  takes  place, 
which  wakes  you  more  effectively  than  a  loud 
voice  would  have  done.  Then  there  is  silence 
again"  when  the  necessary  orders  have  been 
given,  and  once  more  you  are  trying  to  attain 
the  joy  of  somnolence  when  another  hoarse 
whisper  makes  you  start  up,  and  another  mes- 
senger comes  in  with  a  telegram  and  a  match 
has  to  be  found  and  struck,  and  the  message 
read  and  the  answer  decided  on,  and  you  have 
not  the  strength  of  mind  to  avoid  a  little  talk 
on  the  new  light  it  throws  on  the  situation,  and 
the  possible  moves  that  will  be  involved,  and 
the  question  why  General  A.  did  not  do  this, 
and  what  in  the  name  of  fortune  General  B.  was 
up  to  when  he  allowed  the  doing  of  that.  And 
then,  you  and  the  Brigade-Major  having  quite 
satisfied  yourselves  how  splendidly  you  would 
have  managed  the  whole  campaign  and  how  it 
is  all  as  plain  as  a  pike-staff,  you  remonstrate 
with  each  other  for  doing  so  little  sleep,  and 
silence  falls  again  upon  the  canvas  walls  just  as 
they  are  beginning  to  become  slightly  luminous 
with  the  first  rays  of  the  dawn  ;  and  an  hour 
later,  even  if  the  exigencies  of  the  campaign 
have  not  aroused  you,  the  flies  will  wake  up,  and 
sleep  for  another  day  will  become  impossible. 


BALLOONING  1 67 

But  after  all,  even  with  a  Brigade- Major  in 
it,  a  tent  is  a  wonderful  luxury,  as  you  discover 
when  you  have  had  a  night  or  two  in  the  open, 
especially  if  the  weather  turns  wet.  That  such 
a  thing  as  attempting  to  sleep  at  all  under  such 
conditions  is  possible  is  a  new  and  startling 
discovery.  Ordinarily  one  would  as  soon  have 
thought  of  trying  it  as  one  would  of  removing 
the  roof  of  one's  bedroom,  and  adjusting  the 
garden  hose  so  as  to  play  upon  one's  counter- 
pane. But  you  really  do  not  know  what  you 
can  do  till  you  try,  and  I  have  not  the  slightest 
doubt  that  if  it  were  absolutely  necessary  one 
would  come  to  think  even  the  garden  hose  did  not 
greatly  matter  and  could  easily  be  dodged  by  a 
fertile  brain  and  a  Mark  Tapley  disposition. 

But  I  have  wandered  far  from  my  subject, 
which  was  the  application  of  science  to  war  in 
the  matter  of  telegraphs  and  heliographs  and 
balloons.  The  last-named  has  a  peculiar  fascina- 
tion about  it  for  the  looker-on.  I  am  told  that 
its  joys  are  diluted  for  the  balloonist.  First  of 
all  he  may  be  the  most  seasoned  old  salt  who 
ever  scoffed  at  the  horrors  of  the  British 
Channel,  but  if  there  is  any  wind  he  will  in- 
fallibly be  sea-sick  in  the  balloon.  They  say  the 
motion  is  truly  awful,  as  the  captive  balloon 
sways    and    swings    and    tosses    and    heaves. 


1 68  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

Then  you  have  to  add  to  this  initial  discomfort 
the  fact  that  you  have  to  make  observations  of 
small  objects  at  a  distance  of  2,000  to  10,000 
yards,  and  in  order  to  do  this  you  need  to  get  a 
firm  rest  for  your  telescope  or  field-glasses. 
Then  you  have  to  try  to  make  memoranda  on 
a  map  or  elsewhere  as  to  the  enemy's  position 
and  trenches,  and  then  further  to  try  and  keep 
up  a  polite  conversation  through  a  telephone 
with  the  world  below — a  world  which  is  apt  to 
be  impatient  for  the  news  which  you  are  as- 
sumed to  possess  in  abundance  from  the  upper 
regions.  Add  to  this  one  more  trifling  incon- 
venience in  the  shape  of  the  possibility  of  a 
bullet  from  the  enemy,  and  you  have  the  lead- 
ing outlines  of  the  balloonist's  materials  for 
happiness.  It  is  not  altogether  wonderful  if  in 
this  imperfect  world  tempers  are  sometimes 
ruffled  under  the  unusual  strain.  Either  the 
man  above  is  sick  and  sorry,  and  feels  a  little 
chafed  at  the  apparent  want  of  sympathy  from 
his  impatient  friend  at  the  other  end  of  the 
telephone  ;  or  the  terrestrial  friend,  considering 
"such  ire  in  celestial  minds"  unjustifiable,  or 
such  sickness  inconvenient,  fails  in  considera- 
tion for  his  colleague  above. 

I    heard   of   such   a   quarrel    one    day,    but 
without   betraying  secrets  the   situation  lends 


BALLOONING  1 69 

itself  to  dramatic  treatment.  Presuppose  a 
little  preliminary  friction  between  the  terrestrial 
and  the  celestial  telephonist  and  such  conditions 
as  I  have  described,  and  you  can  imagine  some 
such  conversation  as  this  passing  up  and  down 
the  wire  :  ''  Why  don't  you  tell  us  where  the 
Boers  are  ?  "  **  Why  don't  you  move  the  cart 
to  the  east  ?  I  can't  see  over  this  hill,  and  I  am 
getting  horribly  sea-sick."  ''  If  you  are  sea-sick, 
why  don't  you  go  to  the  leeward  of  the  balloon 
instead  of  leaning  over  this  way  ?  or  better  still, 
why  don't  you  come  down  and  let  me  go  up  ?  " 
''  You're  a  .  .  .  and  I'll  tell  you  what  when  I 
come  down."  ''  If  you  say  that  again,  I  will  cut 
the  wire  and  let  you  go  to  Pretoria  (various 
expletives  from  above).  Look  here,  I'm  off; 
I've  had  enough  of  this."  Voice  from  above 
excitedly  :  *'  I  say,  are  you  there  ?  "  Voice 
from  below  :  *'  No,  I'm  not,  and  I  am  not  going 
to  be  till  you  apologize."  Voice  from  above  : 
*'  Here,  I  say,  lower  away ;  these  beggars  have 
just  hit  me  in  the  head  with  a  Mauser  bullet." 
Voice  from  below:  *' No,  have  they  .'^  I'm 
most  awfully  sorry,  old  chap ;  you've  done 
splendidly  and  are  a  gallant  fellow."  (Ends  in 
mutual  congratulations  and  admiration.) 

It   will   of  course   be  understood  that   this 
little  drama  is  entirely  fiction ;  but  it  struck  me 


170  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

as  such  a  funny  situation,  a  quarrel  through  a 
telephone  between  a  man  in  the  clouds  and  the 
man  holding  on  to  him  below,  that  I  was  moved 
to  draw  upon  my  imagination.  But  the  last 
episode  is  founded  on  fact,  as  one  day  our 
balloonist  did  actually  get  within  rifle  range  of 
the  Boer  lines,  and  not  only  was  the  balloon 
hit,  causing  some  loss  of  gas,  but  also  the  in- 
trepid balloonist  was  grazed  on  the  skull  by  a 
Mauser  bullet.  Bullet  holes  have  very  little 
effect  on  the  balloon,  and,  curiously  enough,  for 
the  very  same  reason  that  makes  so  many 
Mauser  bullet  wounds  through  vital  organs  so 
little  harmful.  The  bullet  is  so  small  and 
makes  so  clean  a  puncture,  that  the  skin  closes 
down  again  like  a  valve  and  preserves  the 
wound-channel  from  contact  with  the  air. 

One  day  a  deserter  came  in  from  the  enemy's 
camp — a  Cape  boy.  He  had  been  originally 
a  tram  driver  in  Durban,  and  had  been  in  the 
Transvaal  at  work  on  a  railway  contract,  and 
then  had  been  commandeered  by  the  Boers  on 
the  outbreak  of  war.  He  had  never  been  a 
willing  partisan,  but  when  they  made  him  work 
night  and  day  in  the  trenches,  his  unwilling- 
ness took  a  more  active  form,  and  he  seized 
the  first  opportunity  of  escaping  and  making 
his  way  to  our  lines.     We  cross-examined  him 


A    DESERTER  I71 

at  some  length  as  to  the  Boer  positions  and 
plans.     He  told  us  there  was  a  gun  mounted 
on  the  shoulder  of  Spion  Kop  pointing  right  at 
us  where  we  were  then  standing  (which  was 
cheering  news),  but  that  the  Boers  were  afraid 
to  disclose  it  for  fear  of  having  it  put  out  of 
action  by  our  big  naval  guns,  and  were  keeping 
it  in  reserve  for  the  time  when  we  should  attack. 
He  knew  a  certain  amount  of  English,  and  was 
^evidently  proud  of  his  command  of  idiomatic 
and  conversational  language  ;  and  when  General 
Lyttelton  asked  him  how  the  Boers  had  treated 
him  he  answered   quite   naively  and   respect- 
fully, evidently  proud  of  his  knowledge  of  how 
to  speak  to  a  General,  "  I  had  a  couple  of  quid 
in  my  pocket  and  they  took  them  away  from 
me :  in  fact  they  took  all  my  bloody  things." 
It  is  a  curious  illustration  of  the  way  in  which 
the  English  language  is  being  taught  to  the 
subject-races  of  the   Empire,  especially    when 
one  thinks  of  the  history  of  the  word  and  re- 
members that  it  is  a  corruption  of  *'  By  our 
Lady." 

There  was  no  need  to  testify  *'  by  our  lady  " 
that  the  Boers  had  taken  all  his  things,  for  it 
is  quite  a  common  experience.  The  other  day, 
near  Colenso,  a  number  of  the  South  African 
Light  Horse  rather  rashly  went  down  to  the 


172  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

Tugela  to  bathe,  where  the  river  was  really  in 
the  possession  of  the  enemy.  While  they  were 
in  the  water  a  party  of  Boers  stole  round  and 
got  their  clothes.  They  appeared  to  care  less 
for  prisoners  than  for  boots  and  trousers ; 
and  the  South  African  Light  Horse  had  to 
return  to  Chieveley  an  exceptionally  '*  Light 
Brigade." 

Talking  of  clothes  reminds  me  of  what 
I  heard  of  a  Boer  prisoner  in  Maritzburg 
the  other  day.  He  was  wounded  in  the  leg, 
and  the  doctor  had  to  remove  his  trousers  to 
dress  the  wound,  and  gave  him  instead  a  sleep- 
ing suit.  He  was  very  indignant,  and  said  he 
had  never  slept  without  his  trousers  in  his  life. 
Even  when  they  wear  their  own  clothes  the 
Boers  are  now  difficult  to  distinguish  from  our 
own  men,  for  not  only  are  their  slouch  hats 
very  like  those  adopted  by  our  Volunteers  and 
irregulars  (and  now  I  see,  too,  by  the  English 
Volunteers  and  irregulars),  but  also  there  is  a 
general  epidemic  of  khaki,  the  contagion  of 
which  has  spread  not  only  to  their  side  but  to 
the  natives.  My  small  Kaffir  house-boy  ap- 
pears now  on  Sundays  in  a  complete  suit  of 
khaki,  brass  buttons  and  all.  And  they  say 
that  even  the  horses  are  trying  to  follow  suit. 
Whether  the  effort  is  conscious  or  involuntary 


KHAKI  173 

there  is  no  doubt  about  the  fact  that  most  of 
the  Artillery  and  London  omnibus  horses  are 
perceptibly  changing  colour  under  the  influence 
of  the  South  African  sun.  I  have  noticed  that 
nearly  all  the  bay  horses  have  taken  on  a 
sort  of  yellowish  tinge,  and  long  ago  all  our 
wagons  and  gun-carriages,  and  even  our  scab- 
bards, assumed  the  protection  of  the  khaki  tint, 
which  is  the  nearest  shade  attainable  to  the 
prevailing  tone  of  the  veldt.  It  is  curious  to 
see  the  principle  of  mimicry,  which  plays  so 
large  a  part  in  the  defensive  tactics  of  nature, 
thus  consciously  adopted  by  man.  The  other 
day  I  was  sitting  on  a  rock  which  was  partly 
covered  by  a  white  lichen.  I  saw  a  small 
round  lump  of  what  appeared  to  be  the  same, 
but  while  I  watched  it  it  began  to  move,  and 
on  closer  inspection  it  turned  out  to  be  a  small 
insect— a  beetle  of  a  sort,  covered  with  a  tuft  of 
something  so  exactly  like  the  lichen,  that  in 
rest  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish  it.  And 
the  well-known  stick  insects  which  abound  here 
are  so  absurdly  like  sticks,  that  identification  is 
impossible  until  they  move. 

I  have  gathered  together  a  few  incidents  on 
what  may  be  called  the  lighter  side  of  the  war. 
And  it  is  lucky  that  that  side  is  so  much  in  evid- 
ence at  the  front ;  the  gaiety,  the  fun,  the  chaff, 


174  INCIDENTS    OF    CAMP    LIFE 

the  good  stories  that  one  hears  among  officers 
and  men  do  a  great  deal  to  mitigate  the  hard- 
ships and  to  relieve  the  strain.  And  humour 
is  born  of  kindliness  and  good  fellowship,  and 
the  presence  of  it  among  all  ranks  is  only  one 
more  of  the  many  indications  that  even  in  the 
horrors  of  war  there  are  compensations ;  and 
looking  back  one  feels  that  one  has  at  such 
times  seen  human  nature,  if  not  at  its  best,  yet 
certainly  very  far  from  its  worst.  The  bright- 
ness, the  gaiety,  which  mercifully  are  so  pre- 
valent, are  indications  of  hearts  at  ease ;  of 
consciences  heightened  by  a  sense  of  duty  nobly 
done  ;  of  sacrifice  gladly  borne,  of  generous  con- 
sideration for  others,  of  a  life  which  for  the  time 
at  least  is  lifted  to  a  higher  level  by  the  great 
calls  made  on  it,  and  by  the  high  ideals,  always 
present,  though  never  paraded,  of  patriotism,  of 
heroism,  and  of  self-surrender. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

CROSSING    THE    TUGELA 

Boers  at  Work — The  Naval  Guns — Zwartzkop — A 
forward  Move — The  Tugela  crossed — Watching  the  Shell- 
fire — Howitzers — A  feigned  Attack. 

Spearman  s  Hill,  Saturday,  Jan,  13. — After 
half  an  hour's  preparation  of  sermon,  with  a 
pipe  under  the  trees  on  the  hill,  I  went  up  to 
the  ridge  and  had  a  good  long  investigation 
of  all  the  Boer  positions  through  the  signaller's 
telescope.  It  is  such  a  unique  and  marvellously 
interesting  place  to  be  in  on  this  high  hill 
with  its  immense  panorama,  that  one  never 
tires  of  looking  all  round  through  the  telescope. 
The  troops  are  not  allowed  to  show  them- 
selves on  the  skyHne,  except  the  pickets; 
but  as  nearly  all  go  on  picket  in  turn,  I  sup- 
pose they  all  get  a  look  at  the  Boer  lines.  Our 
camp  being  in  the  hollow  of  the  hill,  away 
from  the  enemy,  they  can't  see  our  little  town 
here.  I  think  I  can  make  out  Enhlonhlweni 
through  the  telescope,  but  I  am  not  sure.    The 


176  CROSSING    THE    TUGELA 

Boers  are  very  busy  at  their  trenches  ;  one  can 
see  them  working  in  parties  of  twenty  or  more, 
making  lines  and  lines  of  rifle  pits  and  gun  em- 
brasures. In  the  afternoon  we  had  a  choir 
practice  under  the  trees,  and  then  I  went  to  tea 
with  the  60th  Rifles,  with  Hill. 

Sunday,  Jan.  14. — Holy  Communion  at  5.45, 
in  our  little  mess-tent.  Only  a  few  officers. 
Then  after  a  cup  of  tea,  church  parade  at  7.  As 
we  are  two  chaplains,  we  agreed  to  take  two  bat- 
talions each,  so  that  all  could  hear.  I  had  the  60th 
Rifles  and  the  Scottish  Rifles,  and  the  N avals, 
and  a  few  odds  and  ends  ;  and  Hill  had  the 
Rifle  Brigade  and  the  Durham  Light  Infantry. 
General  Buller  and  some  of  his  stafl'and  General 
Lyttelton  came  to  my  service,  and  it  was  a  charm- 
ing spot  with  a  little  crescent  of  rocky  hill,  so  that 
the  men  were  in  tiers  above  me,  and  during  the 
sermon  they  could  sit  on  the  rocks.  I  preached 
from  the  second  lesson,  "  Follow  me,  and  let 
the  dead  bury  their  dead,"  and  showed  them 
that  a  chaplain  was  not  simply  to  console  the 
dying  and  to  bury  the  dead.  After  service  I 
took  my  books  and  went  up  the  hill.  The  two 
big  naval  guns  have  been  brought  up  here  from 
Chieveley  (the  Boers  don't  know  it  yet,  but 
they  soon  will).  It  is  odd  that  the  most  useful 
guns  were  only  improvised  on  the  spur  of  the 


THE    NAVAL   GUNS  *T77 

moment.  Captain  Scott,  of  the  "  Terrible," 
designed  and  made  the  huge  carriages  to  move 
these  ship-guns  on,  and  now  they  can  take  them 
with  spans  of  oxen  quite  long  journeys  and  up 
steep  hills.  They  are  enormous  things,  with 
great  long  muzzles. 

I  asked  the  naval  sentry  to  let  me  look 
through  their  big  telescope.  I  could  see  the 
Boers  at  8,000  yards,  quite  plainly — could  see 
which  had  blue  shirt  sleeves  and  which  had 
white — as  they  worked  in  the  trenches.  But 
only  a  few  were  working  to-day  ;  a  fair  number 
were  sitting  on  the  top  of  Spion  Kop,  look- 
ing at  us.  But  the  two  guns  are  just  enough 
below  the  ridge  to  be  out  of  sight.  Then  I  went 
over  the  ridge  and  down  into  the  bush,  on  the 
other  side,  where  there  was  more  shade.  I  got 
a  very  comfortable  seat  under  a  tree.  If  the 
Boers  had  taken  a  shot  at  our  naval  guns  I 
should  have  been  too  near  to  be  pleasant ;  but 
this  was  not  likely,  especially  on  a  Sunday. 
While  I  sat  and  read  a  partridge  came  out  of 
the  long  grass  to  within  three  yards  of  my  foot. 
Back  to  write  and  read,  and  then  lunch  and  some 
English  papers.  But  nothing  for  me.  I  have 
not  had  a  letter  or  a  paper  since  I  left  Maritz- 
burg,  last  Friday  week.  It  is  awful  to  think 
what  I  may  be  neglecting.     At  6  we  had   a 

N 


17?  CROSSING    THE    TUGELA 

voluntary  service  as  last  week.  Hill  read,  and 
I  preached  from  the  first  lesson,  *'  I  dwell 
with  him  that  is  of  a  humble  and  contrite  heart " 
(*'  Lest  we  forget"). 

Monday y  Jan,  15. — English  letters  for  next 
Saturday's  mail  had  to  be  despatched  this  morn- 
ing !  You  would  think  we  were  in  the  remote 
parts  of  the  Transvaal,  instead  of  beinglittle  more 
than  twenty-five  miles  from  the  railway  at  Frere. 
But  I  suppose  with  the  roads  blocked  by  trans- 
port, and  the  stoppages  at  the  different  camps 
en  route,  they  have  to  take  time  by  the  forelock. 

Colonel  Byng  of  the  South  African  Light 
Infantry  went  out  with  two  guns  of  the  artillery, 
with  a  view  to  catching  Boers  on  the  road  be- 
tween Colenso  and  this ;  we  heard  later  on 
that  though  he  did  not  succeed  in  intercepting 
wagons,  etc.,  he  arrived  in  the  nick  of  time  to 
extricate  a  patrol  of  Thorneycroft's  Mounted 
Infantry  from  a  perilous  position.  .   .  . 

Meanwhile  General  Lyttelton  and  his  staff 
made  an  expedition  to  the  two  hills  called 
Zwartzkop,  and  I  went  with  them.  We  started 
about  II,  with  two  guides.  We  had  to  ride 
round  the  top  of  the  ridge  before  descending 
into  the  intervening  valley,  then  crossed  the 
plain  and  began  the  ascent  of  the  opposite  hill. 
It  is  lovely  country.     The  hills  are  covered 


ZWARTZKOP  179 

with  thick  brush,  of  semi-tropical  character,  to  be 
found  on  our  own  river  valleys  as  distinguished 
from  the  higher  hillsides. 

About  halfway  up  we  left  our  horses  with 
the  orderlies,  and  climbed  the  rest,  which  was 
steep,  on  foot.  Then  we  took  elaborate  sur- 
veys of  the  position  as  it  appeared  from  there. 
First  to  the  east,  towards  the  part  of  the  river 
where  Byng  was  on  the  look  out  for  the  Boers. 
Of  course  we  could  not  see  him,  as  he  would 
keep  under  cover,  and  might  be  a  good  way  off. 
At  that  part  the  hills  come  nearer  to  the  river, 
and  are  steep,  so  that  the  road  is  forced  nearer 
to  the  bank.  There  is  a  drift  there,  with  a  road 
leading  to  it ;  it  is  just  possible  that  we  might 
make  an  attempt  there.  Then  we  looked  out 
to  the  north,  and  searched  the  hills  for  Boer 
intrenchments  with  glasses.  There  is  less  need 
of  them  there,  however,  for  on  the  right  the 
hills  are  steep  and  rocky.  Then  we  looked 
towards  the  hills  to  the  north-west,  where  the 
road  from  Potgieter  s  Drift  crosses  the  hills,  to 
see  if  the  guns  on  the  hills  commanded  the  back 
of  some  small  kopjes  just  across  the  river ;  see- 
ing them  in  profile  here,  we  could  judge  better 
than  from  our  camp.  A  spice  of  excitement 
was  added  here,  as  we  saw  just  below  us,  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill,  on  our  side  of  the  river,  a  lot  of 


l8o  CROSSING   THE   TUGELA 

cattle  herded  together,  with  some  ponies,  an^ 
our  guides  said  that  these  must  be  Boers  ;  and 
if  they  were,  they  might  have  a  try  to  cut  off  our 
return  to  camp.  However,  we  saw  nothing  of 
them  when  we  descended  the  hill.  We  called 
at  the  Kaffir  kraal  at  the  foot  and  bought  some 
chickens,  and  then  returned  by  another  road. 
Colonel  Byng  was  to  have  come  to  dinner,  but 
had  not  returned  from  his  expedition. 

Tuesday,  Jan.  i6. — I  went  up  the  hill  after 
breakfast ;  when  I  came  back  to  lunch  I  found 
the  camp  in  a  stir.  At  last  the  orders  had  come 
to  move,  and  the  plan  of  campaign  was  declared, 
and  General  Lyttelton  explained  it  to  me.  Our 
brigade  is  to  move  off  about  2.30  to  the  river, 
and  two  battalions  are  to  cross  Potgieter's  Drift 
to-night,  and  the  rest  to-morrow.  To-morrow 
our  big  guns  will  open  on  the  Boers,  and  we 
shall  make  a  big  demonstration.  Meanwhile 
Sir  Charles  Warren,  with  his  other  brigade 
(General  Woodgate's),  and  with  General  Clery 's 
Division  (consisting  of  General  Hildyard's  and 
General  Hart's  Brigades),  is  to  move  away  to 
a  point  five  or  six  miles  higher  up  the  river, 
cross  there,  and  approach  the  flank  of  the  Boer 
position  up  the  slopes  of  Spion  Kop.  The 
hope  is  that  the  Boers  will  not  be  able  to  spare 
men   enough   from   here   (beside  Colenso  and 


A   FORWARD    MOVE  l8l 

Ladysmith)  to  offer  effective  opposition  to  Sir 
Charles  Warren,  or  if  they  do,  then  we  may 
get  through  their  defences  here.  General  Lyttel- 
ton  called  the  colonels  of  his  battalions  together 
and  explained  the  plan  to  them. 

I  ventured  to  suggest  to  the  General  that  it 
would  be  very  nice  if  each  battalion  before  going 
into  action  could  have  a  short  prayer,  and  he 
quite  approved.  So  I  arranged  that  Hill  should 
undertake  this  office  for  the  6oth  Rifles,  and  the 
Scotch  Scripture  reader  for  the  Scottish  Rifles, 
and  that  I  should  do  it  for  the  Rifle  Brigade 
and  the  Durham  Light  Infantry.  So  when 
the  camps  were  all  struck,  and  the  tents  and 
baggage  packed  on  wagons,  and  the  men  had 
fallen  in,  I  explained  to  them  that  some  of 
the  men  had  remarked  that  the  Boers  asked 
God's  blessing  before  going  into  action,  and  we 
did  not ;  so  I  had  asked  the  General's  per- 
mission to  say  a  prayer.  I  said  a  collect,  an 
extempore  prayer  for  all  the  special  needs,  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Blessing.  Then  the 
word  of  command  was  given,  and  they  marched 
off.  It  was  arranged  that  our  little  camps 
should  be  left  standing  to-night,  and  that  I 
should  dine  at  the  hospital  with  the  doctors, 
and  then  it  would  depend  on  the  army's  pro- 
gress where  we  should  be  to-morrow. 


1 82  CROSSING    THE    TUGELA 

As  soon  as  the  regiments  had  marched  off  for 
the  drift  (which  they  had  to  do  by  making  a  wide 
circuit  of  the  hill),  I  went  up  the  hill  to  watch  the 
movement  of  the  troops  and  to  see  if  I  could 
notice  any  stir  among  the  Boers  as  they  noted 
our  march.  A  big  storm  came  over,  and  I 
got  wet ;  but  I  did  not  care,  as  I  was  moving 
about.  Just  in  the  middle  of  this  I  noticed  a 
long  line  of  dust  down  the  road  from  the  Boer 
position  to  the  smaller  kopjes  which  we  are 
about  to  occupy.  I  ran  up  to  the  signalling 
station  to  make  sure  by  other  eyes  whether  it 
were  so,  intending  if  it  were  to  send  a  message 
to  General  Lyttelton,  as  he  had  just  told  the 
colonels  that  he  felt  morally  sure  these  small 
kopjes  were  not  occupied  by  the  enemy,  and 
it  might  save  life  if  he  knew  they  were.  How- 
ever, on  further  investigation  (though  it  was 
hard  to  see  through  the  rain),  we  felt  sure  that 
the  dust  was  merely  the  result  of  the  strong 
storm-wind.  Then  we  watched  the  advance  of 
the  troops  down  the  winding  hill  through  the 
beautiful  bush-covered  hills  ;  then  out  into  the 
open  grass-land  at  the  base  in  extended  line, 
cautiously  to  the  river,  not  knowing  whether 
the  enemy  were  lying  hidden  in  the  river  bed. 

None  appeared,  and  a  little  later  on  I  watched 
the  first  man — a  young  officer  called  Talbot — 


THE    TUGELA   CROSSED  1 83 

cross  the  drift.  The  water  was  up  to  his 
chest,  but  he  waded  successfully,  and  I  shouted 
to  Major  Chichester,  who  was  near,  that  the 
passage  of  the  obstructive  Tugela  was  begun. 
Then  whole  lines  of  men  plunged  in,  holding 
each  other's  hands  and  making  a  snake-like 
line.  The  river  is  nearly  loo  yards  wide. 
They  found  later  that  a  few  yards  lower  the 
drift  was  shallower.  Then  the  punt  came  into 
action  too ;  it  is  a  big  barge,  made  to  carry  a 
wagon  and  oxen,  and  it  took  fifty  or  sixty  men 
across  at  a  time.  Mentioning  Talbot,  I  forgot 
to  say  that,  just  before  I  said  the  parting  prayer 
with  the  Rifle  Brigade,  another  young  Talbot 
introduced  himself  to  me.  He  is  the  son  of 
the  Bishop  of  Rochester,  and  nephew  of 
General  Lyttelton.  I  remember  him  in  1891 
carrying  the  Archbishop's  train  at  Leeds,  and 
now  he  is  6  feet  5|-  inches.  I  hope  he  won't 
get  shot,  but  he  makes  a  good  target.  Two 
battalions  were  to  cross  to-night,  the  Rifle  Bri- 
gade and  the  Scottish  Rifles,  and  intrench  them- 
selves on  the  small  kopjes  about  a  mile  from 
the  ford.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark,  7.30,  the 
Howitzer  Battery  was  to  cross.  I  watched 
them  as  long  as  I  could,  and  then  went  down 
to  dine  with  the  doctors.  Having  put  on  dry 
clothes,  I  walked  across  to  the  hospital  tents. 


184  CROSSING   THE   TUGELA 

But  I  found  that  Major  Goggin  had  followed  the 
force,  and  left  only  a  young  subaltern.  How- 
ever, he  kindly  gave  me  some  food  with  two 
other  forlorn  people.  Lord  Robert  Manners,  in 
charge  of  the  stretcher-bearers  till  he  can  get  to 
his  regiment  the  (ist)  60th  Rifles,  in  Ladysmith, 
and  another  young  officer  at  the  same  job, 
waiting  to  join  the  5th  Lancers.  Then  I  went 
back  to  my  solitary  camp,  though  most  of  the 
servants  and  grooms  are  still  there — the  cook, 
Sergeant  Cox,  alone  having  accompanied  the 
General. 

Wednesday,  Jan.  17. — I  was  up  by  5,  and 
before  I  was  dressed  the  solemn  boom  of 
the  first  big  naval  gun  on  the  hill  an- 
nounced that  operations  had  begun.  I  went 
straight  up  the  hill  with  a  telescope  I  had 
borrowed  from  the  signallers.  It  is  a  stu- 
pendous sight.  Here  we  are  on  a  high 
mountain  with  the  country  stretching  bound- 
lessly at  our  feet,  and  the  Boer  position  10,000 
yards  away  (nearly  six  miles)  :  and  yet  these 
huge  naval  guns  plunge  a  shell  with  a  thunder- 
ing roar  and  a  whirling  rush  across  the  chasm, 
and  after  seconds  of  waiting  one  sees  the  column 
of  smoke  of  the  bursting  shell  often  right  on 
the  very  point  (intrenchment  or  gun  emplace- 
ment)  which    had   been  aimed   at.      Thunder 


SHELL-FIRE  185 

hardly  describes  the  roar,  and  the  furious  rush 
of  the  invisible  shell  has  its  own  special  horror. 
It  would  be  monotonous  to  describe  all  the 
points  into  which  these  shells  were  dropped. 
We  watched  each  with  the  telescope,  and  so  far 
(Friday,  19th)  the  Boers  have  not  replied  at 
all.  I  found  some  of  the  newspaper  corre- 
spondents on  the  hill,  and  among  them  Mr. 
Goldman  ;  he  kindly  offered  me  breakfast  on 
the  hill,  so  I  picnicked  with  them.  I  stayed 
up  all  the  morning.  There  was  quite  a  crowd 
on  the  brow  of  the  hill,  which  was  a  little  risky 
if  the  Boers  did  turn  out  to  have  one  of  their 
big  guns  mounted.  It  is  rarely  we  see  more 
than  two  or  three  Boers,  and  then  only  for  a 
minute,  as  they  pop  out  of  their  intrenchments 
and  in  again,  whereas  I  suppose  we  had  a  target 
of  100  men  for  them  to  aim  at.  I  came  down 
to  look  for  some  luncheon  about  i.  There  is 
nothing  to  be  got  in  our  own  camp,  but  there  is  a 
canteen  tent  in  camp. 

When  I  came  down  I  found  to  my  dismay 
that  the  whole  of  our  brigade  staff  camp  was 
clean  gone.  I  had  left  all  my  things  loose 
in  my  tent,  not  having  the  least  idea  that 
the  camp  was  to  go  till  some  advance  was 
made.  I  was  hungry  and  hot,  and  it  was  not  a 
pleasant  discovery  ;   but  there  was  nothing  for 


1 86  CROSSING   THE    TUGELA 

it  but  to  follow  on  foot.  So  I  started  to 
tramp,  and  I  remembered  that  my  friends  of 
the  Somerset  Light  Infantry  were  camped  on 
the  road,  so  I  hoped  I  might  get  a  lunch  out 
of  them.  After  walking  about  a  mile  and 
a  half  I  came  to  them ;  they  had  just  finished 
luncheon,  but  they  were  good  enough  to  pro- 
duce a  tin  of  army  rations  (stew  and  vegetable), 
which  they  warmed  up  in  about  fifteen  minutes. 
With  this  and  a  pipe  I  was  a  new  man.  Then 
I  started  again,  and  in  about  a  mile  I  came 
on  our  wagon  outspanned ;  I  recognized  it  by 
the  things  on  it.  From  the  men  I  found  that 
the  General  and  staff  were  close  by  on  a  little 
plateau  halfway  up  between  the  high  hill  and 
the  river  bed.  On  this  plateau  are  eight  long- 
range  naval  12 -pounder  guns.  The  two  large 
ones  on  the  hill  are  47  inch,  with  immense  long 
barrels.  Our  party  had  pitched  two  tents,  one 
for  the  General  and  one  for  a  mess-tent,  though 
last  night  they  all  slept  in  the  open.  Captain 
Yarde- Duller  kindly  gave  orders  for  another  tent 
to  be  fetched  from  the  wagon  and  pitched  for 
me.     Captain  Wilson  and  I  share  it. 

Sir  Charles  Warren  can  only  move  slowly,  and 
will  perhaps  have  to  work  very  gradually  round 
the  west  of  the  Boers,  so  that  our  actions  here 
are  not  hurried.  The  guns  continued  to  thunder, 


HOWITZERS  187 

and  the  Boers  continued  to  lie  low.  In  addition 
to  the  two  47  inch  guns  and  the  eight  1 2-pounders 
there  is  a  battery  of  howitzers,  which  has  already 
crossed  the  river  and  got  its  guns  into  position 
behind  the  small  kopjes.  These  are  specially 
diabolic,  as  they  can  take  up  a  position  behind 
a  hill  and  throw  their  shells  at  a  high  trajectory, 
where  they  like,  without  being  seen  ;  and  then 
they  fire  lyddite,  which  makes  a  terrific  ex- 
plosion, and  is  said  to  kill  everything  within  a 
radius  of  thirty  yards.  I  believe  one  of  these 
threw  a  man  bodily  into  the  air.  I  was  watching 
with  a  telescope,  and  I  think  I  saw  it ;  still,  one 
cannot  be  sure  that  in  this  wide  area  we  often 
come  within  thirty  yards  of  anyone.  Tea  and 
dinner  were  quiet  and  comfortable,  in  spite  of 
the  neighbourhood  of  guns  and  enemy. 

Thursday y  Jan.  18. — The  banging  and  the 
blazing  continue.  A  plan  of  action  for  to-day 
has  been  concerted.  It  is  this  afternoon  to 
make  a  big  demonstration  here  just  before  dusk, 
to  make  the  Boers  think  we  are  going  to 
attack  in  the  night,  and  so  prevent  them  from 
going  off  to  oppose  Sir  Charles  Warren.  After 
luncheon,  I  climbed  the  big  gun  hill  through 
all  the  beautiful  aloes  and  mimosa  with  its  yellow 
balls  of  flower  and  fragrant  smell.  I  put  up 
three  hares  at  different  times — I  have  not  seen 


1 88  CROSSING    THE   TUGELA 

SO  many  In  Natal  before.  At  4  o'clock  a  terrific 
cannonade  began  from  all  the  guns  and  how- 
itzers, and  the  Boer  hillside,  with  its  trenches 
and  rifle-pits  and  gun  emplacements,  was  spotted 
all  over  with  the  white  puffs  and  columns  of 
smoke  from  the  bursting  shells.  At  the  same 
time  the  infantry  began  to  advance  In  extended 
order — about  five  yards  between  each  man — all 
across  the  plain  from  the  little  kopjes.  They 
advanced  and  lay  down,  and  the  shells  screamed 
over  their  heads.  But  the  hill  opposite  might 
have  been  In  the  primeval  desert ;  there  was 
hardly  a  sign  of  life  and  not  a  single  shot  fired. 
But  for  the  experience  of  Colenso  one  could 
well  imagine  a  General  thinking  that  there  were 
no  Boers  there,  and  that  he  was  quite  safe  to 
attack.  But  we  know  too  well  that  those 
trenches  are  full,  and  that  If  we  got  to  300  yards 
or  so,  a  volley  would  be  poured  in  which  would 
kill  hundreds.  The  reconnaissance  had  little 
effect  as  far  as  drawing  fire  or  revealing  the 
enemy's  position,  but  we  hope  It  brought  In 
some  who  might  otherwise  have  been  opposing 
Sir  Charles  Warren.  I  came  down  again  before 
dark.  The  balloon  made  two  ascents  yesterday 
and  was  floating  about  i,  200  feet  above  the  plain 
all  through  the  sham  fight.  .  .  . 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE    FIGHTING    ROUND    SPION    KOP 

Sir  C.  Warren's  Movement — A  Pompom — Alone  in 
Camp — Death  of  Colonel  Hensley — The  Camp  Hospital — 
Colonel  Bethune's  Mounted  Infantry — Return  to  the  Camp 
Hospital — With  Ambulance  Convoy  to  Frere — To  Maritz- 
burg. 

\_Near  Venters  Spruit],  Saturday,  Jan,  20. — 
The  fighting  is  continuous,  but  the  real  battle 
is  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill,  where  Sir 
Charles  Warren  is  swinging  his  line  round. 
His  right  wing,  which  is  only  some  five  miles 
from  us  over  the  ridge  of  Spion  Kop,  is  the 
pivot,  and  while  that  remains  more  or  less 
stationary,  a  long  line  is  gradually  swinging 
round  to  his  left,  so  bringing  the  Boers  into 
a  V.  To-day,  by  way  of  keeping  the  Boers 
opposite  us  from  going  to  attack  him,  we  made 
a  considerable  demonstration.  Wilson  and  I 
rode  over  to  what  we  call  the  "  island,"  that  is, 
the  tongue  of  comparatively  flat  land  inclosed 
by  the  river  on  three  sides  and  by  the  Boers 


IQO  THE    FIGHTING    ROUND    SPION    KOP 

on  the  fourth.  Nearly  all  this  brigade  is  over 
there,  though  we  still  sit  on  the  wooded  plateau 
above  the  river  on  the  south  side.  I  went 
across  to  see  Hill  about  services. 

We  interviewed  the  balloon  engineer.  He 
made  an  ascent,  and  the  wagon  to  which  the 
balloon  is  attached  moved  forward,  and  the 
balloon  was  nearly  over  the  Boer  position. 

The  guns  kept  up  a  hot  fusillade,  and  then 
the  6oth  Rifles  moved  out  in  extended  order 
across  the  plain,  some  companies  under  the 
Colonel  to  a  farmhouse,  and  others  under 
Bewick  Copley  to  a  small  kopje.  They  drew 
a  considerable  fire  from  the  Boers,  including 
that  of  a  machine  gun.  This  is  a  most  diabolical 
instrument,  which  sounds  like  a  person  knocking 
excitedly  and  impatiently  at  your  door.  It 
always  goes  by  the  name  of  the  Pompom. 
The  howitzers,  with  their  awful  lyddite,  and 
the  naval  guns,  bore  down  upon  it,  and  shell 
after  shell  burst  in  its  vicinity.  Wilson,  who 
was  with  the  force,  was  very  much  pleased  at 
the  result  of  the  reconnaissance. 

He  could  see  the  Boers  running  from  our 
shells.  They  abandoned  the  machine  gun 
altogether  for  a  time.  But  some  of  our  own 
men  were  hit  by  long-range  rifle  fire.  It 
seemed   a  pity  when  we  were  not  making  a 


ALONE  IN    CAMP  I9I 

real  attack.  A  certain  number  of  them  tried 
to  creep  along  the  river  bank,  but  were  ex- 
posed to  the  Boers  on  the  other  side,  or  rather 
across  two  bends  of  the  river.  Two  poor 
chaps  were  killed,  and  twelve  or  thirteen 
wounded. 

For  a  short  time  I  was  left  alone  in  our  little 
camp.  Telegraph  men,  signallers,  and  orderlies 
kept  bringing  me  messages,  as  there  were  no 
officers. 

In  one  case  it  was  a  telegraph  from  Head- 
quarters asking  that  an  escort  of  eight  mounted 
men  and  a  N.  C.  officer  might  be  sent  to  con- 
duct prisoners  to  Frere  at  4  o'clock.  As  it  was 
then  3  o'clock,  and  the  General  was  on  his  way 
across  the  river,  and  it  might  be  some  time 
before  I  could  communicate  with  him,  I  took 
the  responsibility  of  sending  the  message  on  to 
Colonel  Bethune.  Most  of  the  other  messages 
I  asked  the  signallers  to  repeat  to  the  General 
or  his  staff  across  the  river.  Meanwhile  Sir 
Charles  Warren  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill 
kept  pounding  away. 

I  arranged  with  Hill  that  he  should  look  after 
the  troops  on  the  "  island,"  and  that  I  would 
hold  services  for  General  Talbot  Coke's  Brigade, 
which  is  two  miles  behind  us,  near  the  Head- 
quarters staff.    They  have  no  chaplain.    Wilson 


192  THE    FIGHTING    ROUND    SPION    KOP 

and  I  still  share  the  tent.  We  go  to  bed  very 
soon  after  dinner  (about  9  p.m.),  and  we  are 
up  about  5  a.m. 

Sunday,  Jan,  21. — At  6.30  (after  Chota-Hazri) 
we  all  mounted  our  horses  (I  have  ridden  half 
the  horses  in  the  camp  by  this  time).  The 
General  and  Wilson  and  Bailey  rode  round  first 
to  the  naval  guns  on  our  plateau,  as  there  was 
information  brought  in  that  the  Boers  were 
mounting  a  gun  on  Spion  Kop  overlooking  us. 
Yarde-Buller  and  I  rode  on  to  the  Headquarters 
and  loth  Brigade  camp  (General  Talbot  Coke's). 
The  regiments  I  had  to  address  were  the  Middle- 
sex, the  Dorsets,  my  friends  the  Somersets, 
and  some  of  the  Headquarters  staff.  Our 
General  and  his  staff  arrived  before  we  began. 
We  had  a  nice  service,  and  I  preached  to  them 
from  the  lesson  about  the  house  empty,  swept, 
and  garnished. 

Then  we  all  rode  back,  and  after  breakfast 
in  the  middle  of  the  morning  I  got  another 
horse  ^  (Bailey's)  and  rode  across  the  river  (by 
the  punt)  and  paid  a  visit  to  the  hospital  to 
see  the  men  wounded  yesterday.  I  found  there 
were  three  very  bad  cases — one  almost  hopeless 
— the  rest  were  slight.     After  some  limejuice 

^  To  show  the  conditions  under  which  I  write,  at  these 
points  the  terrific  4*7  gun  went  off  over  my  head. 


A   SUNDAY    IN    CAMP  1 93 

from  the  doctors  (the  heat  was  ^  intense)  I  rode 
back  for  luncheon.  In  the  afternoon  I  found  a 
quiet,  shady,  and  secluded  spot  in  the  hillside 
(there  is  always  a  chance  of  a  Boer  gun  open- 
ing on  our  tents)  and  read.  At  5  o'clock  I 
started  to  ride  back  to  the  loth  Brigade  camp 
for  a  voluntary  service  ^  which  I  had  announced 
for  6  o'clock.  An  orderly  rode  with  me  to 
hold  the  horses  and  bring  back  my  bag.  He 
was  a  young  fellow  from  Wimbledon  in  the 
1st  Royal  Dragoon  Guards.  You  would  not 
know  our  smart  cavalry  soldiers  in  their  dirty 
khaki.  I  was  not  fortunate  in  my  congrega- 
tion. For  one  thing,  a  great  many  were  on 
duty,  then  many^  more  were  packing  up  for  a 
move  perhaps  in  the  night,  and  the  weather 
was  threatening.  I  suppose  there  were  about 
thirty  men  of  the  Somerset  and  Dorset,  and  a 
few  Devons. 

The  Middlesex  have  come  over  to  our 
camp.  The  smallness  of  the  congregation 
made  me  change  my  subject. 

Then  my  orderly  and  I  rode  back  to  dinner. 
All  this  afternoon  there  has  been  incessant  rifle 
and  artillery  fire  over  the  hill.  We  hear  that 
Sir  Charles  Warren  is  pressing   on.     We  are 

^  To  show  the  conditions  under  which  I  write,  at  these 
points  the  terrific  4-  7  gun  went  off  over  my  head. 

O 


194  THE    FIGHTING    ROUND    SPION    KOP 

sending  four  howitzers  and  General  Talbot 
Coke's  Brigade  to  reinforce  Sir  C.  Warren, 
while  we  hold  on  here  and  continue  to  de- 
monstrate. 

Monday,  Jan,  22. — Another  blazing  hot  day. 
In  the  middle  of  the  morning  the  General  rode 
round  by  our  old  camp  to  the  top  of  the  hill, 
to  the  47  naval  guns,  to  view  the  situation 
from  there.  I  rode  so  far  with  them  and  with 
Colonel  Stuart  Wortley,  w^ho  had  ridden  over 
from  Frere,  and  then  turned  off  to  the  Stationary 
Hospital  (No.  4),  which  is  now  near  the  Head- 
quarters camp.  This  is  the  one  to  which  Mr. 
Treves  is  attached.  All  our  wounded  were 
moved  there  last  night,  and  more  than  a  hun- 
dred of  Sir  Charles  Warren's  men,  wounded  in 
Saturday's  fight.  I  saw  Mr.  Treves,  Nurse 
McCaul,  and  the  two  Army  Sisters,  and  then  I 
started  for  a  round  of  the  tents.  They  have  a 
number  of  large  marquees  with  double  awnings, 
as  well  as  a  whole  lot  of  double  bell-tents. 

The  first  news  I  got  was  the  grievous  an- 
nouncement that  Captain  Hensley  of  the 
Dublins  was  killed.  He  had  come  safe  through 
so  many  fights  —  Dundee,  Lombard's  Kop, 
Colenso,  and  many  journeys  in  the  armoured 
train,  in  one  of  which  he  rescued  a  party  of 
Durban  Volunteers  who  were  nearly  cut  off — 


DEATH    OF    COLONEL    HENSLEY  1 95 

that  it  seems  doubly  sad  he  should  be  killed 
after  all.  And  his  poor  little  wife,  to  whom  he 
was  married  only  a  year  or  so  ago,  will  be 
heart-broken.  I  saw  Major  English  of  his 
regiment,  who  was  wounded,  and  heard  all 
there  was  to  hear,  and  promised  to  write  to 
his  poor  wife.  English  asked  me  to  tell  her 
that  he  had  collected  all  his  kit  and  belongings, 
and  was  bringing  them  down.  He  told  me  that 
Hensley  was  buried  with  others  by  Father 
Matthew  at  Fair  View  Farm. 

Colonel  Bruce  Hamilton,  Chief  of  the  Staff 
to  General  Clery,  and  Major  Macgregor, 
another  staff  officer,  were  among  the  wounded 
whom  I  saw.  I  visited  every  tent — over  a 
hundred  men — though  as  a  rule  one  can  do  no 
more  than  ask  how  they  are  and  have  a  chat. 
I  got  back  rather  late  for  luncheon.  We  have 
lately  been  reduced  to  ration  biscuits,  which 
are  as  hard  as  dog  biscuits.  Even  soaked  in 
tea  I  can  make  nothing  of  them.  But  yester- 
day we  got  a  loaf  of  bread,  and  to-day  some 
buns  and  a  present  from  Colonel  Bethune  of  a 
cake  and  some  pineapples  and  bananas  ! 

I  don't  mean  we  have  no  meat — though  it  is 
nearly  all  tinned.  But  the  open-air  life  makes 
us  wonderfully  well,  and  there  is  marvellously 
little  sickness  among  the  men — hardly  any,  in 


196  THE    FIGHTING    ROUND    SPION    KOP 

spite  of  the  fact  that  none  of  our  brigade  have 
had  tents  since  last  Wednesday.  They  sleep 
in  the  open,  wet  or  fine,  and  are  really  better 
than  when  they  are  fifteen  in  a  tent.  Sir 
Charles  Warren  seems  to  have  come  rather  to  a 
standstill  to-day,  which  makes  me  a  little  anxious. 
It  may  be  that  after  three  days'  fighting  he 
feels  he  must  give  his  men  a  rest,  but  every 
day's  delay  means  that  these  mobile  Boers  will 
have  thrown  up  new  intrenchments  in  front  of 
him  ;  and  intrenched  positions  are  almost  im- 
possible to  take  except  by  outflanking.  Our 
big  guns  still  boom  from  time  to  time,  and  we 
hear  Sir  C.  Warren's  behind  the  hill. 

Bethune  has  some  very  smart  fellows  among 
his  Mounted  Infantry  (raised  in  Natal).  They 
have  been  waylaying  Boers  on  the  road  from 
Colenso  here,  and  shot  eight  this  morning 
and  six  the  other  day.  One  of  them  strolled 
across  the  river  and  right  up  to  the  top  of 
Spion  Kop,  a  mountain  opposite  us  in  the 
centre  of  the  Boers'  position.  He  went  up 
with  his  pipe  in  his  mouth  and  had  a  good 
look  at  their  intrenchments.  They  fired  at  him, 
but  he  got  away  all  right. 

I  am  afraid  I  really  must  go  back  this  week. 
I  did  want  to  get  to  Ladysmith  with  the  troops, 
but  at  the  present  rate  of  progress  it  does  not 


RETURN    TO    CAMP    HOSPITAL  1 97 

look  as  if  there  were  much  chance  of  that  this 
week. 

Tuesday,  Jan,  23. — Sir  Charles  Warren  still 
continues  his  fighting  and  his  slow  progress. 
Yesterday  I  saw  one  of  the  shells  from  his 
howitzer  burst  right  on  the  sky-line  of  the 
ridge  to  the  west  of  us,  and  one  can  see  some  of 
his  troops  with  a  glass  from  our  naval  gun  hill 
— and  the  firing  continues  pretty  briskly.  This 
morning  I  had  a  more  or  less  quiet  time  :  the 
General  rode  over  to  see  the  men  in  hospital. 
I  thought  I  would  not  go  at  the  same  time, 
so  I  climbed  the  hill  and  sat  up  there.  When 
the  General  came  back  it  seemed  likely  that 
there  might  be  some  move  this  afternoon  or  to- 
morrow morning.  I  had  now  made  up  my  mind 
that  I  must  be  back  before  Sunday.  Captain 
Yarde-  Buller  reported  that  he  had  made  arrange- 
ments for  me  to  sleep  at  the  Stationary  Hospital  a 
mile  or  two  from  here  and  to  go  down  in  the  morn- 
ing with  the  ambulance  convoy  to  Frere.  I  was 
very  sorry  to  leave,  and  it  is  a  great  disappoint- 
ment not  to  have  got  to  Ladysmith.  Still,  it 
did  not  seem  right  to  put  off  my  Umzinto  Con- 
firmation again,  especially  as  I  am  not  really 
doing  very  much  here.  So  I  packed  up  soon 
after  luncheon  and  rode  to  the  hospital,  which, 
by  the  way,  is  Mr.  Treves's,  to  which  I  am  by 


198  THE    FIGHTING    ROUND    SPION    KOP 

way  of  being  attached.  A  pony  carried  my  kit 
on  a  pack-saddle,  and  a  mounted  orderly  went 
with  me  to  lead  the  pack-horse  and  to  bring 
them  both  back.  When  I  reached  the  hospital 
I  found  that  Major  Kirkpatrick,  the  P.M.O., 
was  unwell  and  asleep,  and  the  others  had  not 
heard  of  my  coming.  So  I  had  rather  to  act 
the  beggar  and  go  and  hunt  out  accommodation 
for  myself.  However,  they  were  just  erecting 
a  hundred  more  tents,  so  I  got  one  of  them  and 
unpacked  my  own  kit,  and  then  went  to  visit  a 
few  of  the  worst  cases  in  the  hospital.  I  saw 
Corporal  Etheridge,  the  man  in  the  60th  Rifles 
who  was  shot  in  the  spine.  He  does  not  seem 
to  know  how  bad  his  wound  is,  and  as  he  may 
live  for  some  time  I  did  not  feel  that  I  was  called 
to  tell  him  plainly  that  they  considered  it  hope- 
less. I  saw  a  good  many  more,  but  it  was 
getting  dark  and  they  were  going  to  sleep.  We 
dined  under  a  tarpaulin  between  two  wagons, 
and  then  I  turned  in,  as  we  have  to  make  an 
early  start. 

Wednesday,  Jan.  24. — Up  at  5  ;  we  were  sup- 
posed to  start  at  half  past,  and  as  I  had  to  pack 
all  my  kit  (bed,  table,  and  chair,  as  well  as 
clothes),  and  to  get  some  tea,  there  was  not 
much  time.  However,  we  did  not  actually  get 
off  till  7,  though  long  before  that  I  was  in  the 


CONVOY   TO   FRERE  I 99 

wagon.  Our  convoy  consisted  of  about  18 
wagons,  containing,  I  think,  about  150  men. 
The  men  were  in  open  ox  and  mule  wagons, 
and  the  officers  in  ambulance  wagons  with  a 
tented  cover.  I  was  on  the  box  seat  of  one  of 
these  with  a  young  fellow  in  the  Lancaster 
Regiment  who  had  a  bad  eye.  We  were  not 
allowed  to  go  faster  than  a  walk,  and  the  walk- 
ing pace  of  oxen  is  little  more  than  two  or  three 
miles  an  hour.  So  it  was  a  tedious  progress. 
I  might  have  got  a  pony,  but  then  I  should 
have  had  to  leave  my  kit,  and  one  never  knows 
when  one  will  see  it  again.  We  outspanned 
at  Springfield  Bridge  for  breakfast,  which  we 
ate  under  the  wagon.  The  doctor  in  charge 
was  an  Australian  who  had  brought  enough  for 
himself  and  me,  and  I  made  tea  in  the  ever- 
useful  Etna.  Then,  after  two  hours,  we  went 
off  again,  and  after  a  long  and  tiring  day  (the 
heat  and  the  flies  were  very  bad),  we  reached 
Frere  at  6  p.m.,  eleven  hours  from  the  start. 
I  was  not  sure  whether  we  were  going  to  be 
put  straight  in  the  ambulance  train  and  sent  off 
that  night  or  not.  It  turned  out  that  the  officers 
were  to  sleep  in  the  train  and  the  men  in  the 
hospital  tents,  and  the  train  was  to  start  in  the 
morning.  I  was  not  sure  where  I  should  put 
up,    but    in    the    nick  of  time   Colonel   Stuart 


200  THE    FIGHTING    ROUND    SPION    KOP 

Wortley  turned  up  and  offered  me  a  bed  and 
dinner  in  his  camp.  He  is  in  command  of  a 
mixed  battalion  of  reservists  who  have  come  out 
to  join  the  Rifle  Brigade  and  the  6oth  Rifles 
now  in  Ladysmith. 

Thursday,  Jan,  25. — I  brought  my  diary 
down  to  my  tea  and  a  bath  in  Colonel  Stuart 
Wortley's  camp  last  night,  I  think  ;  and  there 
I  was  interrupted,  and  broke  off  in  the  middle 
of  a  sentence.  I  was  much  taken  with  some  of 
his  young  officers.  They  were  such  gentle- 
men and  good  fellows.  We  dined  at  7,  and 
had  a  pleasant  evening,  and  I  was  quite  ready 
for  bed  after  thirteen  hours  on  the  road  (in- 
cluding the  two,  5  to  7,  waiting  to  start).  This 
morning,  after  an  early  cup  of  tea  in  their  mess 
— which,  by  the  way,  was  an  erection  of  wood 
and  iron,  open  on  one  side,  so  that  it  looks  like 
a  doll's  house,  where  you  see  into  all  the 
rooms — we  breakfasted  about  7.30,  as  they 
were  going  out  for  a  sort  of  reconnaissance — 
not  that  they  are  likely  to  see  any  Boers,  as  we 
do  not  believe  there  are  any  this  side  of  the 
river,  or  at  all  events  this  side  of  Chieveley. 
Then  I  went  to  the  station  to  make  sure  about 
my  train,  and  then  to  the  hospital,  where  I 
visited  a  good  many  of  the  wounded  men — 
many  of  them  those  who  came  down  with  me 


A   WOUNDED    DOCTOR  20I 

yesterday,  though  one  ambulance  train  full  has 
gone  off  this  morning. 

Then  at  10.20  my  train  left.  I  travelled 
down  the  first  part  of  the  way  with  Colonel 
Hamilton  of  the  14th  Hussars.  He  was  look- 
ing after  an  army  doctor  attached  to  their 
regiment,  who  had  been  wounded  at  Chieveley 
while  tending  a  wounded  man.  He  is  badly 
hit.  They  carried  him  laid  out  in  the  guard's 
van.  But  I  am  afraid  the  shaking  of  the  train 
must  have  been  very  bad  for  him.  He  was 
taken  to  Mooi  River,  but  we  had  an  hour  and 
a  half's  stop  at  Estcourt.  There  I  went  across 
to  see  the  Priors,  and  they  gave  me  some 
luncheon.  At  Mooi  River  a  doctor  got  in 
who  represents  the  Red  Cross  Society ;  he 
talked  a  good  deal,  and  told  me  some  things  I 
was  glad  to  know.  The  Red  Cross  Society  has 
unlimited  funds,  and  does  things  in  a  handsome 
way.  Glad  to  be  back  again  in  a  house  with 
clean  sheets  on  the  beds.  Major  Heath  is 
back  from  his  Greytown  trip,  and  we  were  glad 
to  meet  again.  Still  they  have  no  news  of  the 
result  of  yesterday's  night  attack.  A  great 
heap  of  things  awaiting  my  attention. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

DIOCESAN    WORK 

To  Durban — Confirmation  at  Umzinto — News  of  Spion 
Kop  and  Death  of  Colonel  Riddell — Back  at  Maritzburg — 
Visits  to  Hospital  in  Fort  Napier — Anxiety  as  to  the 
Operations  at  the  Front — Visit  to  Richmond — Arrival  of 
Mr.  CHnton  Dent — To  Durban — To  Umkomaas  with  Mr. 
Brooke  Lambert  —  Kranz  Kloof — Better  News  from  the 
Front — Confirmation  of  Indians — Durban. 

Maritzbtirg,  Friday,  Jan,  26. — A  day  of 
making  up  arrears  and  trying  to  get  straight. 
But  at  4.50  I  had  to  start  for  Durban  on  my  way 
to  Umzinto.  I  travelled  down  with  Colonel 
Hime,  who  had  a  carriage  reserved.  Dined  at 
Inchanga,  and  reached  Durban  before  10.  Went 
to  the  club  for  a  bed,  but  found  they  were 
quite  full.  I  stupidly  had  not  bespoken  a  bed. 
So  I  went  on  to  Canon  Johnson's,  to  see  if  he 
could  take  me  in.  Fortunately  I  found  his 
spare  room  empty,  and  he  took  pity  on  me. 

Saturday,  Jan.  27. — To-day's  paper  reports 
the  taking  of  the  top  of  Spion  Kop,  and  we  were 
all  in  exultation  as  to  the  result  of  Wednesday's 


CONFIRMATION   AT    UMZINTO  203 

fight.  It  was  too  bad  to  leave  us  in  a  fooFs 
paradise  for  a  couple  of  days.  The  truth  came 
on  Sunday  night  in  a  rumour  that  the  position 
had  been  given  up  after  all. 

I  started  for  Park  Rynie,  the  station  for 
Umzinto,  at  9  a.m.,  reaching  there  at  12,  from 
there  taking  a  post-cart  to  Umzinto,  about  six 
miles.  Two  of  the  Durban  curates,  Bibby  and 
Jones,  were  taking  holiday,  and  staying  with 
Mr.  Gallagher.     So  we  had  a  house  full. 

Umzinto,  Sunday,  Jan.  28. — Celebration  at 
7.30.  Matins  and  Confirmation  at  11.  There 
were  four  boys  and  four  girls.  I  was  glad  I  had 
not  put  off  the  Confirmation  for  another  week,  as 
some  of  these  were  going  back  to  school,  and  this 
was  the  last  Sunday  of  the  holiday,  so  that  they 
would  have  missed  the  service.  In  the  even- 
ing I  preached  again  from  the  Psalm  of  the 
evening — *'  By  the  waters  of  Babylon  " — on  the 
word-long  conflict  *'  Sion  in  her  anguish  with 
Babylon  must  cope." 

Monday,  Jan,  29. — The  rumour  of  last  night 
is  confirmed  by  the  papers  this  morning.  The 
top  of  the  mountain  was  so  strongly  held  by 
the  Boers,  that  our  men  had  after  all  to  retire, 
and  this  after  General  Lyttelton's  Brigade  had 
actually  climbed  the  face  of  Spion  Kop,  an 
almost    precipitous    mountain,   and   lost   their 


204  DIOCESAN    WORK 

colonel  of  the  6oth  Rifles,  and  many  other 
officers  In  the  attempt.  Poor  Colonel  RIddell, 
with  whom  I  had  so  many  talks  a  few  days  ago, 
whose  sister  (Sister  May  of  the  Kilburn  Sisters) 
has  just  arrived  In  Marltzburg  from  Burmah  to 
nurse  the  other  brother  who  was  wounded  In 
Ladysmlth.  She  Is  at  St.  Anne's,  and  is  nurs- 
ing at  the  hospital.  It  Is  a  very  sad  business 
both  because  of  the  loss  and  the  disappointment, 
and  also  because  of  the  critical  state  of  Lady- 
smith.  I  don't  know  what  Is  to  happen  there. 
I  cannot  but  fear  they  must  be  running  out  of 
ammunition,  at  least  for  the  big  guns,  which 
only  went  up  at  the  last  moment  before  the 
siege  began.  Now  It  has  all  to  be  begun  over 
again,  or  else  a  worse  place  has  to  be  tackled. 

However,  fortunately  the  responsibility  of  de- 
cision does  not  rest  with  us.  And  I  have  little 
patience  with  all  the  people  here,  who  know  so 
much  better  than  the  Generals  how  It  should  all 
be  done.  As  Mrs.  Triton's  boy,  who  was  con- 
firmed yesterday,  is  going  back  to  school,  she 
was  very  anxious  that  he  should  make  his  first 
communion  with  her,  so  we  had  a  celebration  at 
7,30  this  morning,  at  which  both  of  them  and 
one  or  two  others  communicated.  After  an 
early  luncheon  at  1 1.30,  Jones  and  I  started  on 
horseback  to  ride  to  the  station  at  Park  Rynle. 


RETURN    TO    MARITZBURG  205 

A  boy  carried  my  bag.  It  was  very  hot,  but 
we  took  it  quietly  and  reached  there  in  time  for 
the  train  at  1.20.  He  rode  back  and  the  boy 
led  my  pony.  A  hot  railway  journey  in  a 
rather  full  carriage,  and  then  I  got  to  Durban 
at  4.20  ;  had  a  cup  of  tea  at  the  club,  where  I 
sleep  to-night.  Then,  after  reading  the  papers, 
I  went  for  the  evening  meal  to  Johnson's,  and 
after  it  went  to  Evensong,  at  which  I  confirmed 
two  people  who  had  for  one  cause  or  another 
missed  the  regular  Confirmation. 

Tuesday,  Jan.  30. — Matins  and  breakfast  at 
St.  Cyprian's ;  a  morning  with  letters  and  papers 
at  the  club.  At  5.50  I  started  back  again  to 
Maritzburg.  Rather  a  full  train,  at  least  as  far 
as  Hill  Crest.  Travelled  with  Mr.  Anderson, 
M.L.A.  for  Newcastle. 

Wednesday,  J  an.  31. — Back  to  the  old  routine 
in  Maritzburg.  The  day  taken  up  with  getting 
straight.  There  are  a  great  many  men  in 
hospital  here  now,  as  indeed  everywhere  ;  but  I 
have  no  time  yet  to  begin  again  the  visiting. 
In  the  evening  I  went  to  see  Colonel  Johnston, 
in  order  to  ask  him  various  things — one,  whether 
there  is  likely  to  be  a  hospital  ship  going  to  the 
Cape  soon,  on  which  I  could  act  as  chaplain, 
and  get  a  free  passage  in  return,  to  fetch  my 
wife  and  boys  and  my  Mother. 


206  DIOCESAN    WORK 

Thursday,  Feb.  i. — Wet  all  yesterday  and 
most  of  to-day  again.  Dull  work  of  paying 
bills  and  other  household  matters.  I  shall 
have  a  great  deal  of  mending  for  the  ladies  when 
I  get  back  to  female  society  !  In  the  afternoon 
Mr.  Weeks,  the  new  incumbent  of  St.  Paul's, 
came,  and  I  took  him  down  the  town  in  the  rain, 
and  showed  him  the  Legislative  Hospital.  In 
the  evening  we  talked  Natal  controversy  un- 
limitedly,  and  I  gave  him  documents. 

Saturday,  Feb,  3. — I  don't  know  whether 
you  would  rather  have  a  clean  and  uninterest- 
ing diary,  or  a  dirty  and  interesting  one.  But 
this  week  it  is  not  interesting  enough  to  need 
a  second  copy  for  the  Cape.  Saturday  was 
a  busy  day  with  letters  for  the  English  mail, 
and  in  the  middle  of  the  morning  I  had  to 
go  down  to  the  town  to  do  a  lot  of  errands. 
This  evening  I  went  into  Government  House, 
after  dinner,  as  I  have  seen  so  little  of  His  Ex- 
cellency lately.  I  took  my  sketch — merely  a 
pencil  outline — of  the  position  as  seen  from 
Spearman's  Hill,  which  interested  him  and  the 
two  officers  who  are  staying  there,  one  of  the 
colonels  of  the  Royal  Fusiliers  who  has  been 
injured  by  a  fall,  and  the  other  a  new  acting 
A.D.C. 

Sunday^  Feb,  4. — Early  service  at  8,  at  St. 


FORT    NAPIER    HOSPITAL  207 

Anne's  Chapel,  as  the  Garrison  Church  is  at 
present  used  as  a  hospital.  I  have  written  to 
suggest  that  as  long  as  it  is  so  used  they  should 
pay  us  ^150  a  year,  as  a  compensation  for  the 
loss  of  offertories,  as  I  have  pledged  them  to 
support  the  chaplain,  and  pay  the  interest  on  a 
loan  from  Dr.  Sutherland.  At  1 1  I  attended 
St.  Saviour's,  where  Mr.  Clark  preached.  In 
the  afternoon  I  had  a  quiet  read  at  Archbishop 
Benson's  Life.  I  have  just  got  to  the  Chancellor- 
ship at  Lincoln.  In  the  evening  I  preached 
at  St.  Luke's. 

After  morning  service  I  went  to  the  Assembly 
Hospital  to  see  if  Field  was  there,  but  found  he 
was  not.  Then  I  went  up  to  the  top  of  the 
camp  to  the  office — a  very  hot  walk;  from 
them  I  found  that  he  was  in  one  of  the 
barrack-room  wards  in  Fort  Napier.  I  soon 
found  him.  His  wound  was  a  slight  one — in 
the  elbow.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  touched 
the  bone.  These  Mauser  bullets  make  wonder- 
fully clean  wounds,  so  I  should  hope  he  would 
soon  be  all  right  again.  He  is  not  in  bed.  At 
the  same  time  I  am  very  sorry  he  is  not  in  the 
Assembly  Hospital,  where  they  send  most  of 
the  Volunteers  and  Irregulars.  Unfortunately 
there  is  not  room  for  all,  and  he  happens  to 
be  one  of  the  unlucky  ones  who  had  got  taken 


208  DIOCESAN    WORK 

on  arrival  to  the  Camp  Hospital.  He  was 
wounded  quite  early  in  the  engagement  on 
Spion  Kop,  in  the  early  morning,  and  lay  for 
six  hours  before  he  got  help.  He  did  not, 
therefore,  know  much  about  the  affair,  and 
could  not  tell  me  what  I  wanted  to  find  out. 

Monday,  Feb.  5. — In  the  afternoon  I  went  to 
see  Field  again,  and  took  a  big  basket  full  of 
grapes  from  our  garden  for  him  and  his  ward 
mates.  I  could  not  actually  give  them  to  him, 
as  there  are  so  many  fever  and  dysentery  cases 
in  the  ward  that  some  of  them  might  have  got 
hold  of  the  grapes  and  I  might  have  got  into 
trouble,  so  I  put  them  into  the  nurse's  room. 
She  was  absent  at  the  moment. 

Tuesday,  Feb,  6. — Really  nothing  to  relate. 
Life  is  a  most  dull  affair  down  here,  and  no 
news  comes  through,  though  we  are  persuaded 
that  the  fight  is  going  on  at  this  moment.  I 
am  much  drawn  towards  that  beautiful  hill 
above  the  Tugela,  **  From  the  safe,  glad  rear 
to  the  dreadful  van."  But  you  need  not  fear  ;  I 
am  not  going  at  present,  and  I  have  offered 
myself  to  Richmond  for  next  Sunday.  I  was 
going  there  the  Sunday  I  was  called  off  to 
Frere.  The  English  mail  came  in  yesterday, 
and  to-day  I  have  a  letter  from  Yarde-Buller, 
the  A.D.C. 


WAITING    FOR    NEWS  2O9 

Wednesday,  Feb.  7. — A  ride  with  Major 
Heath  in  the  afternoon  on  one  of  his  ponies  is 
the  only  variety  to-day.  We  rode  out  towards 
Ashburton. 

The  news  from  the  front  to-day  is  a  shade 
more  hopeful.  They  seem  to  have  taken  one 
part  of  the  Boer  position  opposite  Potgieter's 
Drift,  but  will  they  be  able  to  hold  it  ?  The 
same  telegram  speaks  of  a  nasty  cross-fire, 
which  I  much  fear  may  be  a  preparation  for 
news  that  they  had  after  all  to  evacuate  the 
position. 

Thursday,  Feb,  8. — No  more  news  all  day 
to-day ;  rather  ominous,  I  fear.  If  there  were 
good  news  we  should  have  had  it  sooner. 
However,  we  have  to  be  patient.  I  also  get 
no  news.  I  have  had  no  letter  from  Cecil  for 
ever  so  long.  January  19th,  I  believe,  was  my 
last.  I  cannot  think  what  has  happened  to  her 
and  Mother  that  they  do  not  write.  They  seem 
further  away  than  England.  At  least,  I  hear 
less  often.  I  went  for  a  hard  bicycle  ride  this 
afternoon  by  way  of  exercise.  Late  at  night, 
when  Heath  came  back  from  his  office,  he  told 
me  that  there  was  a  very  ominous  sign.  He 
had  received  a  telegram  from  *'  Headquarters 
Camp,  Springfield  Bridge."  It  seemed  that  it 
could  mean  nothing  else  than  that  they  had  to 

P 


2IO  DIOCESAN   WORK 

retire  entirely  from  the  Tugela  and  Spearman's 
Hill.  If  this  were  so  it  meant  a  terrible  disaster, 
as  the  last  we  heard  was  that  they  were  not 
only  across  the  Tugela,  but  actually  on  the  hills 
which  are  the  Boer  position.  If  they  had  fallen 
back  so  far  as  Springfield  they  must  have  been 
badly  beaten,  and  then  one  hardly  dared  to 
think  out  what  they  must  have  lost,  probably 
all  the  naval  guns  which  could  not  be  removed 
in  a  moment,  and  possibly  a  lot  of  the  troops 
on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  The  result  was 
that  I  had  a  bad  night,  continually  going  over 
and  over  in  my  sleep  all  possible  motives  they 
could  have  for  falling  back  to  Springfield,  out- 
side that  of  necessity. 

Friday,  Feb.  9. — Major  Heath  and  I  both  in 
very  low  spirits  this  morning.  He,  too,  had  had 
a  bad  night  with  the  same  reflections  as  my  own. 
However,  after  breakfast  he  came  back  from 
his  office  on  purpose  to  tell  me  that  he  felt  ten 
years  younger  in  consequence  of  a  telegram 
from  Major  Morgan,  still  dated  Spearman's 
Hill,  showing  that  position  was  not  vacated. 
The  mystery  of  the  address  of  the  Headquarters 
Camp  still  remains  unsolved. 

Wednesday,  Feb.  14. — Diary,  as  you  see,  in 
arrear.  Nothing  very  interesting  to  record. 
All  seems  dull  after  the  front. 


RICHMOND  2  1 1 

On  Saturday  last  I  went  to  Richmond  by  the 
3.35  train.  It  was  a  very  hot  day,  and  the 
train  was  uncomfortably  full,  and  ladies  would 
get  into  the  smoking  carriage,  so  I  did  not  en- 
joy the  journey  which  takes  three  hours  to  do 
twenty-five  miles.  Mr.  Cooper  and  Mr.  Ward 
met  me,  and  I  stayed,  as  in  former  visits, 
with  the  Coopers.  On  Sunday  I  preached  and 
took  the  morning  service,  the  magistrate,  Mr. 
Waller,  reading  the  lessons.  In  the  after- 
noon I  called  on  the  Howdens,  and  preached 
again  at  night,  Mr.  Ward  taking  the  service. 
In  the  morning  he  had  been  holding  service 
at  Byrne.  There  were  good  congregations, 
though  here  as  elsewhere  many  of  the  men  are 
away  fighting.  On  Monday  I  stayed  the  morn- 
ing at  Richmond,  and  came  home  by  the  train 
at  3.15,  reaching  Maritzburg  soon  after  5.30. 
As  I  came  in  by  the  back  door  I  found  a  gentle- 
man coming  in  by  the  front.  It  was  Mr.  Dent, 
a  prominent  London  surgeon,  who  came  with  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  me  from  Professor  Bryce. 
Major  Heath  was  there,  and  we  had  tea  and  a 
long  and  very  interesting  talk  about  Bryce  and 
the  Alpine  Club,  of  which  this  gentleman  is  a 
distinguished  member,  and  about  the  strange 
things  that  Mauser  bullets  do,  and,  of  course, 
about  the  war.     A  very  hot  night.     A  good 


212  DIOCESAN    WORK 

thing  Mother  is  not  here.  By  the  way, 
don't  ask  me  to  do  impossibilities.  On  the 
one  hand,  you  ask  me  not  to  bring  the  Mother 
up  here  till  it  is  cool,  and  on  the  other,  you 
want  her  back  punctually  in  six  months.  She 
shall  be  returned  as  soon  as  ever  it  is  possible, 
but  I  don't  suppose  at  the  present  rate  she  will 
be  here  till  well  on  into  March,  and  she  must 
have  time  to  turn  round.  It  is  not  the  war 
but  the  heat  that  prevents  my  bringing  her  up 
sooner. 

Went  to  Durban  by  the  evening  train. 
Travelled  with  young  Garrard,  whom  I  had 
met  up  at  Spearman's  Hill,  in  charge  of  the 
Colt  gun  with  Lord  Dundonald.  He  is  now 
coming  down  wounded.  We  reached  Durban 
at  9.30,  and  I  went  to  the  club,  where  I  had 
bespoken  a  bed.     It  was  very  hot. 

Durban,  Thursday,  Feb.  15. — Went  to  St. 
Cyprian's  for  matins  at  7.30,  and  after  break- 
fast with  Johnson  went  to  the  Castle  Office  to 
find  out  when  the  Kinfauns  Castle  was  expected. 
At  first  they  told  me  they  had  no  word  of  her,  and 
could  only  suppose  she  had  not  left  East  London 
and  would  not  be  here  to-day,  which  would  have 
been  very  aggravating.  However,  they  asked 
me  to  come  again  at  1 1,  which  I  did,  and  then 
found  that  she  was  on  her  way  all  right,  and 


DURBAN  213 

would  be  up  about  i.  The  tug  was  to  start  at 
12.  So  I  had  to  go  off  at  once  to  the  Point  to 
catch  it,  as  I  proposed  to  go  outside  the  bar.  I 
had  a  good  deal  of  waiting  at  the  Point  as  usual, 
but  at  last,  about  12.30,  we  started  out.  There 
was  very  little  bar,  though  a  certain  swell  out- 
side. The  Kinfauns  came  in  sight  just  as 
we  rounded  the  Bluff,  but  it  was  another  half 
hour  before  she  had  come  to  anchor,  and  we 
could  board  her.  I  found  Mr.  Brooke  Lambert, 
but  not  either  of  the  two  other  clergy  whom  I 
had  hoped  to  meet,  Mr.  Murphy,  late  chaplain 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  a  Mr.  Fisher 
of  whom  Canon  Booth  had  told  me.  We  had 
luncheon  on  board,  and  then  we  started  back  in 
the  tug.  From  the  Point,  where  he  left  an 
agent  to  disentangle  all  his  luggage,  we  took 
the  tram  up  the  town  and  went  to  Pass's,  who 
had  kindly  offered  to  put  Lambert  up.  He  is 
living  just  behind  the  club.  Lambert  dined 
with  me  at  the  club.  Pass  and  his  companion, 
Leuchars,  were  dining  on  board  the  hospital 
ship  Nubia. 

Friday,  Feb.  16. — Breakfasted  with  Pass,  and 
then  Brooke  Lambert  and  I  went  by  the  9  a.m. 
train  to  Umkomaas.  I  wanted  him  to  see  some  of 
the  coast  scenery,  and  that  is  quite  the  prettiest 
line.     We  got  there  at  11.30,  and  walked  on 


214  DIOCESAN    WORK 

the  beach  and  then  made  tea  in  the  Etna.  It 
was  difficult,  however,  as  I  found  the  spirit  had 
leaked,  and  we  had  to  make  a  fire  of  sticks,  and 
there  was  a  wind  and  the  sticks  would  not  burn 
evenly,  first  flaring  up  and  then  dying  down, 
and  the  smoke  got  into  one's  eyes  and  made 
them  smart.  However,  at  last  the  consumma- 
tion was  attained  and  we  had  our  luncheon, 
consisting  of  sandwiches,  biscuits,  tea,  and 
bananas.  Then  we  returned  by  the  2  train, 
and  got  back  in  time  for  a  cup  of  tea  at  the 
club  and  a  read  of  the  papers.  Then  Pass  and 
Leuchars  and  Lambert  all  came  to  dinner  with 
me  at  the  club. 

Saturday,  Feb,  1 7. — Returned  to  Maritzburg 
by  the  train  starting  at  10.5,  but  broke  the 
journey  for  a  couple  of  hours  at  Kranz  Kloof. 
It  was  just  as  much  as  we  could  do  comfortably 
to  walk  to  the  gorge  and  get  back  again  in 
time  for  the  new  train  which  leaves  Durban  at 
12.15.  It  was  a  choice  between  doing  this  and 
trusting  to  getting  our  luncheon  in  the  train, 
or  taking  our  luncheon  with  us  to  picnic  and 
then  having  to  wait  for  the  evening  train,  not 
reaching  Maritzburg  till  10  ;  and  this  was  rather 
too  much  of  a  good  thing,  so  we  just  walked 
to  the  Kloof  and  then  back  and  made  tea  in 
the  train.     I  found  a  friendly  station-master  at 


THE    DEANS    ILLNESS  215 

Gillett's  whose  wife  gave  me  some  milk,  so 
we  were  well  off  and  we  reached  Maritzburg 
at  5.25. 

Mr.  Lambert  was  much  impressed  by  the 
Kranz  Kloof.  The  weather  was  very  hot,  and 
we  had  a  long  walk,  but  he  stood  it  very 
well. 

Pietermaritzburg,  Sunday,  Feb,  i8. — Lambert 
preached  at  St.  Peter's  at  1 1 .  The  Governor 
was  there  and  the  church  was  very  full.  In 
the  afternoon  we  walked  over  to  Government 
House  to  call.  We  had  tea  there  and  a  nice 
chat.  I  went  on  to  St.  Saviour's  for  evening 
service  and  Lambert  stayed  at  home.  I  had 
an  off  day  as  far  as  sermons  were  concerned. 

Monday,  Feb,  19. — I  heard  last  night  that 
the  Dean  was  very  ill  and  he  wished  me  to 
come  and  celebrate  for  him  this  morning,  which 
I  did  at  9  a.m.  He  was  very  weak,  and  though 
the  doctor  does  not  take  a  very  grave  view  of 
the  case,  the  Dean  himself  does.  His  son  had 
come  in  by  the  morning  train  to  see  him  and  join 
in  the  service.  The  day  was  uneventful.  I 
took  Lambert  round  and  showed  him  some  of 
the  hospitals  and  the  Garrison  Church.  The 
English  mail  came  in  at  night — always  a  joy. 

Tuesday,  Feb.  20. — Early  service  at  the 
Cathedral,  and  then  got  caught  in  the  rain  and 


2l6  DIOCESAN    WORK 

had  to  come  home  and  change.  In  the  afternoon 
we  walked  to  the  Legislative  Hospital,  and  then 
to  the  College  Hospital  through  the  Park.  At 
the  former  I  asked  for  Field,  but  he  could  not 
be  found,  and  they  supposed  he  must  have  gone 
out.  He  is  going  out  to-morrow  and  will  then 
be  an  out-patient.  I  left  word  with  the  nurses 
to  ask  him  to  come  to  see  me,  but  as  I  have 
begun  to  think  of  going  to  Cape  Town  next 
week  I  may  miss  him.  In  the  evening  we  went 
to  dinner  at  Government  House — all  three  of 
us — Lambert,  Heath,  and  I.  The  General  was 
there  and  Sir  Samuel  Scott,  M.P.,  who  has 
come  out  in  his  yacht  and  is  going  up  to  the 
front,  but  only  as  a  spectator.  I  sat  on  the 
Governor's  right  hand,  with  a  gunner  officer 
next  me  who  had  just  arrived  from  India  to  re- 
place the  guns  lost  at  Colenso,  but  he  himself 
was  not  at  present  wanted  at  the  front.  We 
are  altogether  beginning  to  cheer  up.  Roberts 
says  he  has  almost  surrounded  Cronje  after 
relieving  Kimberley,  and  Duller  is  getting 
behind  the  Boers  at  Colenso,  so  that  they  are 
evacuating  their  trenches.  Some  of  Hart's  Bri- 
gade is  already  crossing  the  Tugela  at  Colenso. 
This  is  the  result  of  taking  Hlangani  or  Hlang- 
wani,  or  Hlangwini,  as  it  is  variably  called.  I 
have  been  very  busy  writing  for  the  Magazine 


HOWICK  2  I  7 

all  day.  I  am  beginning  to  repent  of  having 
decided  to  start  for  the  Cape,  as  I  should  so 
much  like  to  go  back  to  the  front  so  as  to  be 
able  to  enter  Ladysmith  with  the  troops  if  they 
get  there,  which  seems  likely  to  be  the  case  very 
soon  now. 

Wednesday,  Feb.  21. — Went  to  early  service, 
and  called  to  ask  after  the  Dean  on  the  w^ay 
back.  In  the  afternoon  Lambert  and  I  went  out 
to  the  Botanical  Gardens — he  walked,  and  as  I 
had  several  things  to  do  in  the  town  first,  I 
bicycled  and  met  him  there.  If  I  go  on  Mon- 
day it  will  be  by  my  old  friend  the  Scot,  and 
Lambert  will  probably  go  at  the  same  time  by 
the  Kaiser  up  the  East  Coast. 

Thursday,  Feb.  22. — Lambert  and  I  started 
at  8.45  for  Howick.  He  is  much  pleased  with 
the  scenery — a  very  satisfactory  visitor  to  show 
round.  We  took  the  invaluable  tea  bag  and 
some  sandwiches  and  some  bananas  and  biscuits. 
It  is  a  steep  climb,  but  Lambert  managed  it  well. 
We  had  a  thoroughly  good  picnic.  Then  we 
climbed  again  and  took  the  wagonette  back 
to  Howick  station.  Reached  Maritzburg  at  5 
without  adventure.  Not  much  news  to-day, 
though  we  hear  there  is  fighting  going  on. 
They  have  sent  me  the  copies  of  Good  Words 
which  contain  my  article  cut  up  into  two.     It 


2l8  DIOCESAN    WORK 

is  rather  absurd  publishing  it  three  years  after 
it  was  written  without  a  word  of  explanation. 

Saturday y  Feb.  24. — Woke  with  head  bad 
again  and  could  do  little  towards  sermon. 
Wrote  my  mail  letters,  such  as  were  not  written 
already,  but  little  else.  Slept  again  in  the  after- 
noon. To-night  I  had  my  Indian  Confirmation 
which  ought  to  have  been  last  Sunday  afternoon. 
It  had  been  a  wet  day,  and  as  the  roads  were 
too  bad  to  bicycle,  I  rickshawed.  Fortunately 
the  head  got  better  towards  evening.  We 
had  a  nice  service  :  I  hope  the  work  is  good, 
but  it  is  very  hard  to  tell.  These  Indians  are 
funny  people  with  lots  of  faction  among  them- 
selves— very  spiteful  against  each  other.  There 
were  about  six  men  and  five  women  confirmed. 
Clark  was  there  as  well  as  the  Indian  priest, 
Joseph.  Brooke  Lambert  left  at  8.50  this 
morning,  as  he  had  one  or  two  people  to  see  in 
Durban. 

Sunday,  Feb.  25. — Preached  at  St.  Saviour's 
at  1 1  and  celebrated.  A  large  congregation.  I 
have  preached  so  seldom  lately  that  I  really 
think  there  are  a  certain  number  who  want  me 
to  preach.  In  the  afternoon  I  had  to  go  to 
Durban  in  order  to  catch  the  boat  to-morrow. 
I  do  not  like  having  to  travel  on  Sunday,  but  I 
could  not  help  it,  having  this  Confirmation  last 


TO    DURBAN  2T9 

night  and  sermon  this  morning.  Heath  kindly 
came  to  see  me  off.  I  found  Mr.  Dent  going  by 
the  same  train  and  the  same  boat,  which  I  was 
very  glad  of.  We  dined  at  Inchanga,  and 
reached  Durban  about  9.45.  I  went  to  the 
club  and  had  a  bed  there. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

FROM    CAPE    TOWN    TO    KIMBERLEY 

Start  for  the  Cape  on  SS.  Scot — East  London — Port 
Elizabeth ;  Rejoicings  on  Relief  of  Lady  smith — Delayed  by 
Fog — Arrival  at  Cape  Town — Find  the  Family  at  Wynberg 
— Start  for  Kimberley — Belmont,  Graspan,  and  Modder 
River — Kimberley. 

SS.  Scoty  Monday,  Fed.  26. — Woke  with  a  bad 
headache  again.  This  time  over  the  right  temple 
instead  of  the  left  as  usual.  It  was  very  bad. 
I  went  to  matins  at  St.  Cyprian's  and  had 
breakfast  with  Johnson,  but  could  hardly  eat. 
Then  after  breakfast  it  began  to  work  off  a  bit, 
though  it  left  me  shaky.  After  going  to  the 
Union  Office  about  the  ticket,  and  to  the 
market  to  get  a  box  of  pineapples  and  bananas 
to  take  with  me,  I  took  a  rickshaw  for  the  Point 
at  10.15.  Tug  supposed  to  start  at  1 1 .  Brooke 
Lambert  came  down  also  in  a  rickshaw  to  see 
me  off,  so  my  friends  have  played  up  well.  I 
found  Major  Fortescue  going  also.  He  is  one  of 
the  officers  of  Colonel  Stuart  Wortley's  battalion 
with  whom  I   stayed  the  night  at  Frere.     His 


STARTING    FOR    THE    CAPE  221 

own  regiment  is  the  (3rd)  60th  Rifles  with  which 
I  was  in  Lyttelton's  Brigade.  He  has  had 
influenza  and  is  ordered  to  the  Cape  for  a  change, 
so  he  is  going  just  for  the  voyage  and  hopes  then 
to  be  well  enough  to  go  back  to  the  front.  He, 
too,  knows  Dent,  so  we  have  foregathered  and 
got  places  next  to  each  other  at  table.  I  on  the 
captain's  left  hand,  a  lady  from  the  Cape  and 
her  husband,  with  whom  I  travelled  in  the  same 
ship  in  1893,  being  on  his  right.  I  have  got 
the  cabin  next  to  the  one  in  which  I  came  out 
in  1893  and  exactly  corresponding  to  No.  i  in 
which  I  went  home  in  1897,  only  on  the  port 
side  instead  of  the  starboard.  The  ship  sailed 
between  2  and  3  o'clock.  There  was  a  little 
motion,  but  not  very  much — only  I  was  much 
afraid  that  my  headache  would  make  me  sea- 
sick, however  smooth  it  was.  However,  I  was 
all  right.  In  the  night  it  got  rough  a  bit,  and 
once  we  shipped  a  big  wave  which  came  right 
into  my  porthole  and  hit  me  in  the  face  and 
drenched  my  pillow  ;  I  was  too  sleepy  to  take 
much  notice,  and  only  turned  the  pillow  and 
went  to  sleep  again.  I  am  none  the  worse  so 
far  for  the  damp  bed.  This  never  happened 
in  either  of  my  three  voyages  in  the  same 
cabins  before,  so  I  suppose  for  a  moment  or  two 
it  must  have  been  pretty  rough. 


2  22  FROM    CAPE    TOWN    TO    KIMBERLEY 

Tuesday,  Feb,  27,  Shrove  Tuesday  and  Ma- 
juba  Day. — We  reached  East  London  just  at 
breakfast  time,  and  there  we  got  the  news  that 
Cronje  had  this  very  morning  surrendered. 
We  have,  of  course,  been  expecting  it  every 
day,  but  there  is  many  a  slip,  and  one  is 
much  relieved  to  know  that  it  is  3,  fait  accompli. 
We  hope  now  that  the  tide  has  turned  and  will 
begin  to  flow  in  fast.  In  the  evening  the  cap- 
tain proposed  the  Queen's  health  and  further 
success.  We  lay  off  East  London  all  day. 
We  neither  of  us  went  ashore,  and  we  sailed 
about  10  p.m.  or  a  little  later. 

Ash  Wednesday,  Feb.  28.  —  Reached  Port 
Elizabeth  about  10  a.m.  I  did  not  go  ashore. 
It  does  not  interest  me,  and  I  prefer  the  quiet 
and  rest  and  opportunity  for  writing  on  board. 
So  the  day  passed  without  much  incident.  We 
got  papers  giving  particulars  of  the  prisoners 
and  guns  taken  at  Paardeberg. 

Off  Port  Elizabeth,  Thursday,  March  i . — 
News  this  morning  that  Ladysmith  is  relieved. 
We  gave  great  cheers  when  a  tug  reported  it, 
and  the  ships  are  dressing  themselves  with 
bunting.  I  only  hope  it  is  a  true  report. 
The  first  intimation  we  got  was  from  a  trans- 
port that  was  sailing  out.  As  she  passed 
she   let    off    two   or   three    rockets.      As   we 


PORT    ELIZABETH  223 

watched  the  shore  we  saw  through  glasses 
large  crowds  of  people  gathering.  And  then 
the  ships  lying  in  the  bay  sent  up  their  flags 
one  after  another,  and  a  tug  which  came 
out  told  us  it  was  true,  and  then  at  last  our 
bunting  went  up  too.  Later  on,  the  people 
who  had  been  ashore  came  back — at  luncheon 
time — and  brought  special  slips  of  the  news- 
papers, telling  us  that  on  Tuesday  night — still 
Majuba  Day  —  General  Buller  had  gained 
Pieter's  Hill,  and  with  it  practically  the  approach 
to  Ladysmith,  and  that  his  forces  had  entered 
yesterday.  It  is  an  immense  relief—how  great 
you  can  hardly  realize  unless  you  have  felt  the 
continual  strain  of  these  checks  we  have  suffered, 
and  of  the  fear,  not  so  much  for  the  whole  gar- 
rison (for  we  thought  they  could  hold  out),  but 
for  the  sick,  who  had  no  proper  remedies  or 
food. 

In  the  evening  there  were  great  demon- 
strations. We  went  up  on  to  the  boat  deck,  or 
rather  the  bridge  above  that  again,  and  from 
there  we  had  a  fine  sight  of  the  whole  illuminated 
town  and  the  fireworks  which  were  going  up 
from  all  quarters — from  the  ships  as  well  as  from 
the  shore.  We  ourselves  joined  in  with  sig- 
nalling lights  and  rockets.  We  fired  off  a  lot 
of  explosive  rockets  which  were  really  rather 


2  24  FROM    CAPE    TOWN    TO    KIMBERLEY 

alarming,  as  they  not  only  make  a  loud  report 
when  fired  out  of  a  mortar,  but  another  bang 
when  they  explode  in  the  air,  and  as  some  of 
them  were  out  of  condition  they  exploded  at 
wrong  times,  some  after  they  had  fallen,  and  it 
would  have  been  a  little  awkward  if  they  had 
fallen  on  the  deck.  Then  we  retired  to  quiet 
life  again.  But  some  of  our  young  men  on 
board  were  so  excited  with  the  news  that  they 
kept  up  songs  in  the  smoking  room  (which  is 
close  to  my  cabin)  till  past  midnight.  They 
sang  very  nicely,  but  it  was  bad  for  sleep. 

Friday,  Ma7'ch  2. — An  uneventful  day,  lying 
in  the  anchorage.  I  wrote  and  read  and  played 
quoits  and  piquet  at  night.  A  lot  of  people 
came  off  to  luncheon,  the  occasion  evidently 
being  the  leaving  of  the  company's  agent,  as  I 
heard  them  proposing  his  health  afterwards. 

Saturday,  March  3. — The  tug  came  off  with 
the  passengers  from  here  at  11,  and  we  started 
punctually  at  12.  A  brilliant  day  and  fairly 
quiet  sea,  though  a  bit  of  a  swell.  Every 
hope  that  we  may  arrive  early  to-morrow,  as 
the  Scot  is  doing  better  than  usual,  seventeen 
knots  an  hour. 

Sunday,  March  4. — No  suggestion  of  any 
service,  partly  with  the  view  of  arriving  early,  I 
suppose.     I  do  not  care  to  suggest  it  if  no  one 


DELAYED    BY    FOG  2  25 

else  does.  I  never  care  about  their  having  a 
service  on  purpose  to  please  the  clergyman. 
So  we  packed  our  things,  and  I  had  my  matins 
quietly  in  my  cabin.  Strong  head  wind,  so 
that  we  have  not  made  as  much  progress  as  we 
hoped.  Cape  Hanglip  in  sight  all  the  morning, 
and  then,  across  False  Bay,  the  Table  Moun- 
tain range.  But  a  curious  mist  making  the 
view  hazy. 

We  passed  Cape  Point  about  2  or  before,  but 
from  that  point  the  whole  land  was  entirely 
veiled  in  mist,  and  we  saw  nothing  of  the 
*'  Twelve  Apostles."  About  3  we  steamed 
right  into  a  bank  of  fog,  and  from  that  moment 
had  to  slow  down,  and  as  the  fog  only  got 
thicker,  to  stop  altogether,  screaming  with  a 
fog-horn  from  time  to  time,  a  wheezy  sound  like 
a  monster  trying  to  scream  in  its  dreams,  and 
only  very  partially  succeeding.  It  was  very 
annoying,  and  we  watched  the  wall  of  mist 
around  us,  hoping  every  moment  that  it  would 
lift.  It  did  once,  and  we  saw  the  horizon. 
But  no  sooner  had  we  got  under  way,  and 
steamed  about  a  mile,  than  into  it  we  went 
again.  There  was  no  chance  of  making  the 
entrance  to  Table  Bay  in  this,  especially  as  just 
now  the  Bay  is  crowded  with  transports.  There 
are    over   a   hundred,  so   there    is   very   little 

Q 


2  26  FROM    CAPE    TOWN    TO    KIMBERLEY 

room.  There  was  also  the  possibility  of  an  out- 
ward-bound ship  bearing  down  on  us,  so  we  had 
to  keep  a  sharp  look-out  and  scream  a  good 
deal.  Daylight  dwindled  until  we  knew  that 
our  chances  of  getting  ashore  to-night  were 
gone.  After  dark,  the  fog  cleared,  and  we 
steamed  into  the  Bay,  but  a  long  way  out,  on 
account  of  the  numerous  ships.  There  we 
dropped  anchor  and  went  sadly  to  bed. 

Monday,  March  5. — At  6  we  began  to  move. 
I  went  up  on  deck,  as  I  always  enjoy  seeing  the 
old  mountain  again.  But  to-day  he  was  still 
quite  invisible.  We  were  inside,  and  moored 
alongside  the  dock  by  about  7  ;  but  it  was  no 
good  going  ashore  without  breakfast,  so  we  had 
to  wait  till  8.30.  Then  there  were  no  cabs  at 
the  wharf.  So  I  went  ashore  and  walked  to 
meet  a  cab.  I  met  none  for  so  long  (not  till  I 
was  well  out  of  the  Docks)  that  I  thought  I 
might  as  well  go  on  and  do  my  business  first, 
and  so  avoid  having  to  put  my  luggage  in  the 
cloak-room.  So  I  took  a  cab,  when  I  got  one, 
to  Government  House ;  then  I  went  back  to 
the  dock  and  got  my  luggage  and  caught  a  train 
at  1 1  for  Wynberg.  As  we  turned  into  Mains 
Avenue  I  saw  my  wife  on  the  Stoep,  and  my 
Mother  with  her  and  the  baby.  So  I  knew  the 
house.     Then   I   found  that   I   was  to  stay  at 


^ 


H     pi 


CAPE   TOWN  227 

High  wick,  so  I  took  Cecil  up  into  the  cart,  and 
we  drove  on.  They  had  given  me  up,  and 
thought  I  could  not  after  all  have  come  by  the 
Scot.  Tom  has  wonderfully  advanced  in  his 
talking,  and  is  evidently  proud  of  the  accom- 
plishment. I  did  not  see  him  at  the  time, 
because  he  was  out  with  Miss  Wood,  but  he 
came  round  with  Mother  soon  after. 

Cape  Town,  Wednesday,  March  7. — After 
posting  my  diary  I  went  to  Government  House 
to  make  sure  that  my  pass  to  Kimberley  was 
all  right,  and  finding  that,  went  on  to  see  Mr. 
Dent  at  the  Mount  Nelson  Hotel  about  our 
journey.  We  are  arranging  to  start  to-morrow 
night.  I  went  back  to  Government  House  to 
luncheon,  as  Sir  Alfred  had  invited  me.  There 
were  several  officers  there.  I  sat  next  to  him, 
and  had  a  little  chat,  though,  as  he  was  very 
busy,  I  took  my  leave  directly  after  luncheon, 
as  did  the  others. 

Thursday,  March  8.— I  went  to  buy  things 
for  the  trip — some  tinned  meats  in  case  we 
should  have  a  difficulty  in  getting  food,  Kim- 
berley being  probably  still  a  little  short.  I  also 
bought  a  khaki  jacket  to  ride  in,  as  I  had  found 
my  black  rather  too  hot  at  the  front  before. 
Then  I  went  to  luncheon  with  Dent  at  the 
Mount  Nelson.      There   are   any    number   of 


2  28  FROM    CAPE    TOWN    TO    KIMBERLEY 

smart  London  ladies  about,  and  not  a  few  loud 
people  from  Johannesburg,  altogether  a  very 
unattractive  lot.  It  is  like  London  or  Brighton. 
We  sat  at  a  table  with  the  colonel  and  another 
officer  of  the  South  Wales  Borderers  (Militia), 
who  is  going  to  Kimberley  to-morrow,  so  we 
may  see  him  again.  He  offered  us  any  hospi- 
tality he  could  give.  After  more  purchases,  I 
returned  to  the  train.  On  my  way  back  I  got 
out  at  Rondebosch  Station  and  called  at  Groot 
Schuur — Mr.  Rhodes's  house — as  Lady  Edward 
Cecil  is  there,  and  Walrond  had  told  me  she 
was  kind  enough  to  express  a  wish  to  see  me. 
However,  she  was  out,  and  so  was  Rhodes. 
Then  dinner,  and  then  Cecil  and  I  drove  to 
Kenilworth  Station,  where  we  said  good-bye, 
and  I  went  into  town  in  good  time  to  catch  the 
9  o'clock  train  for  Kimberley.  They  had  re- 
served us  a  compartment.  A  newspaper  man 
came  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  have  one  of 
the  berths  in  our  carriage,  but  we  demurred, 
and  told  him  the  compartment  was  reserved, 
and  then  he  tried  to  get  the  conductor  to  give 
him  a  berth  here.  However,  we  were  able  to 
satisfy  the  man  that  the  carriage  was  reserved, 
although  he  had  not  been  told  about  it.  A 
seasonable  tip  made  things  right,  and  we  were 
not  afraid  of  being  disturbed  again.     We  have 


START   FOR    KIMBERLEY  229 

had  a  fairly  good  night,  but  the  first  is  always  the 
worst,  and  it  was  very  hot,  so  that  we  took  a 
long  time  to  get  to  sleep.  We  have  laid  in  a 
good  supply  of  literature,  and  we  have  various 
other  comforts  for  the  journey,  as  well  as  the 
very  precious  tea  basket.  So  I  think  we  shall 
do,  even  if  we  have  to  camp  out. 

Friday y  March  9. — Breakfast  at  Matjesfon- 
tein.  But  it  was  not  till  10  o'clock,  and  we  had 
been  expecting  to  get  there  a  great  deal  earlier. 
However,  we  got  a  cup  of  indifferent  coffee  at 
Tows  River.  Luncheon  was  at  Fraserburg 
Road.  But  as  it  was  past  3  o'clock,  and  dinner 
at  Victoria  West  would  not  be  till  after  10,  I 
made  this  my  dinner,  and  we  made  ourselves  a 
very  fair  high  tea  with  Mr.  Dent's  chocolate 
and  milk.  We  had  biscuits  and  potted  meat. 
As  I  have  often  before  described  the  Karoo 
I  need  not  dwell  on  it  again.  It  is  a  desolate 
region,  calculated  to  send  one  into  the  blues 
if  one  were  condemned  to  live  there.  And 
the  whole  day  we  were  passing  through  it 
with  its  wide  expanse  of  treeless  flat,  varied 
only  by  stony  kopjes — no  grass,  but  only  the 
little  tufts  of  bush.  We  settled  in  for  sleep  after 
a  game  of  piquet. 

Saturday,  March  10. — An  excellent  night's 
sleep,  but  notwithstanding  I  have  a  threatening 


230    FROM  CAPE  TOWN  TO  KIMBERLEY 

of  headache.  We  had  a  long  stop  at  De  Aar, 
about  4  to  5  a.m.,  but  I  slept  through  most  of 
the  time,  only  getting  up  to  go  to  the  telegraph 
office  to  send  atelegram  to  Archdeacon  Holbeach, 
at  Kimberley,  to  tell  him  I  am  arriving  to-night. 
He  would  think  it  strange  if  he  met  me  unwarned 
in  the  streets  of  Kimberley,  and  I  also  thought 
he  would  probably  want  me  to  preach  to-morrow, 
after  being  shut  up  there  for  three  months  of 
siege.  Breakfast  was  at  Orange  River.  It  is 
strange  that  the  Boers  never  broke  this  splendid 
bridge  over  the  great  river.  They  had  plenty 
of  chances  of  doing  so  during  the  earlier  days 
of  the  siege,  before  the  troops  from  England 
arrived.  From  this  point  on  there  were  more 
signs  of  war  ;  encampments  of  our  troops  guard- 
ing the  lines  of  communication  at  various  points. 
We  supposed  we  were  going  to  get  luncheon 
somewhere,  but  it  turned  out  that  we  were  left 
to  our  own  resources.  In  the  middle  of  the 
morning  we  came  to  Belmont,  where  there  were 
many  marks  of  shot  and  shell ;  the  station 
buildings  had  suffered  considerably.  Behind 
the  station,  a  little  to  the  east,  were  the  kopjes 
up  which  our  men  charged  the  Boers.  In 
one  way  it  is  a  worse  country,  and  in  another  a 
better,  than  Natal.  It  has  far  less  cover,  being 
very  smooth  grass  or  karoo  ;  but,  on  the  other 


MODDER    RIVER  23  I 

hand,  the  hills  are  not  so  high  as  those  at  Colenso 
and  Dundee  which  we  had  to  scale. 

At  Belmont  there  were  some  Munster  Fusiliers 
and  Engineers,  and  I  had  a  little  talk  to  a  medical 
officer,  and  there  one  or  two  of  the  R.A/s  about 
the  station.  Then  on  again  to  Graspan,  where 
also  we  could  see  the  kopjes  with  their  trenches 
from  which  the  Boers  were  driven.  I  had 
started  with  the  idea  that  we  might  be  able  to 
ride  over  all  these  positions,  but  I  find  the  dis- 
tances between  all  these  various  battlefields  are 
too  great  for  us  to  be  able  to  do  this  with  the 
time  at  our  disposal,  and  without  our  own  ponies. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  short  of  actually  going 
into  the  trenches,  we  can  see  it  all  pretty  well  from 
the  train.  Then  about  2  or  3  o'clock  we  came  to 
the  Modder  River.  Here  the  bridge  had  been 
broken  down,  though  it  is  nearly  complete  again. 
The  train,  however,  still  goes  down  a  steep 
cutting  to  nearly  the  level  of  the  river,  and  then 
crosses  on  a  temporary  bridge  built  on  heaps  of 
stones.  I  was  surprised  to  find  the  country  so 
flat.  I  had  expected  it  to  be  more  like  the 
Tugela  at  Colenso,  but  it  is  very  different. 
Instead  of  the  hills  which  frown  down  on  the 
river  here,  there  is  a  very  gradual  slope,  and 
except  for  the  river  banks  themselves  there  is 
very  little  cover.     It  was  not  easy  to  tell  from 


232  FROM    CAPE    TOWN    TO    KIMBERLFA' 

the  train  where  the  Modder  River  battle  ended 
and  where  the  Magersfontein  one  began.  But 
perhaps  we  may  get  a  chance  of  a  closer  view 
before  we  leave. 

Our  long  journey  of  forty-four  hours  came  to 
an  end  at  5.  At  the  station  we  found  the  good 
Archdeacon,  so  I  did  well  to  telegraph  to  him, 
as  otherwise  we  should  have  been  rather  at  a 
loss  as  to  what  to  do.  However,  the  Arch- 
deacon drove  on  to  the  club  to  find  out  whether 
they  could  take  us  there,  and  as  soon  as  we 
could  get  a  cart  we  followed.  It  seemed  that 
the  Union  Company's  agent  had  also  tele- 
graphed to  the  club  on  our  behalf,  and  when 
the  secretary  understood  that  w^e  were  the 
people  referred  to  In  the  wire,  he  gave  us  the 
two  last  rooms.  The  whole  place  Is  just  seething 
with  officers,  and  we  are  lucky  to  have  a  place 
to  lie  down  in. 

Then  I  went  off  with  the  Archdeacon  to 
Evensong,  which  was  then  in  progress.  The 
church  showed  very  vivid  signs  of  the  siege. 
A  shell  had  passed  through  the  roof  just  where 
it  joined  the  wall-plate,  and  had  burst  by  the 
concussion,  and  the  fragments  had  made  holes 
in  every  direction  through  the  west  wall,  cut- 
ting large  bits  of  the  wood  and  Iron.  They 
had  a  daily  service  of  intercession  during  the 


KIMBERLEY  233 

siege,  at  12,  and  they  came  out  at  12.30,  and 
this  shell  entered  at  i  o'clock.  Then  we  passed 
a  house  in  the  main  road  that  had  been  burnt 
down  by  a  fire  ignited  by  a  shell.  The 
Archdeacon  had  passed  the  spot  only  a  few 
yards  when  this  shell  fell.  It  is  marvellous, 
when  one  hears  the  number  of  narrow  escapes, 
that  not  more  were  killed.  A  woman  had 
her  head  blown  off  just  outside  the  club,  and  in 
the  hole  which  the  shell  made  in  the  ground 
some  vegetation  has  already  begun  to  spring  up 
in  the  midst  of  the  hard  pavement.  There  is 
a  big  hole  in  a  photographer's  wall  just  opposite 
here  where  a  shell  went  through,  and  parts  of  it 
knocked  the  cross  off  the  Roman  church  which 
is  next  door  here,  and  broke  part  of  the  balus- 
trade of  the  club  verandah.  After  a  most  de- 
lightful bath  we  had  dinner.  The  Judge,  Mr. 
Justice  Hopley,  asked  us  all  to  dinner,  and  the 
party  included  Admiral  Maxse  and  a  Canadian 
Surgeon-Colonel.  I  was  very  glad  to  meet 
the  Admiral,  as  I  was  so  much  interested 
in  his  clever  daughter,  Lady  Edward  Cecil. 
I  sat  next  to  him  at  dinner,  and  found  him  a 
very  interesting  old  gentleman.  We  smoked 
our  cigars  on  the  verandah  where  the  shell  had 
struck,  and  enjoyed  a  very  pleasant  chat. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

KIMBERLEY 

Service  and  Sermon — View  from  the  De  Beers'  Tower- 
Dinner  with  Admiral  Maxse;  Prince  Francis  of  Teck — 
Visit  the  Boer  Position ;  their  Headquarters—  Spytfontein 
and  Magersfontein — Boer  Trenches  and  Shelters — Back  to 
Kimberley. 

Kimberleyy  Sunday,  March  1 1 .  —  I  had 
promised  the  Archdeacon  to  help  him,  as  he 
represented  that  they  had  had  no  change  during 
all  the  weary  weeks  of  the  siege.  So  I  cele- 
brated at  8,  and  preached  at  1 1.  There  was  not 
quite  a  full  church,  and  the  congregation  was 
chiefly  military,  so  many  of  the  civilians  have 
gone  away  since  the  relief.  I  had  had  little 
time  for  preparation,  and  am  afraid  I  gave  them 
rather  too  much,  not  in  time,  for  I  was  only 
twenty-two  minutes,  but  there  was  too  much 
crammed  into  the  sermon,  and  it  may  have  been 
a  little  hard  to  follow.  I  tried  to  suggest  that  we 
should  bring  whatever  honour  and  glory  God  may 
give  us  into  his  city,  the  text  being  Rev.  xxi.  24. 


THE    DE    BEERS     TOWER  235 

After  church  I  went  round  with  the  Archdeacon 
to  his  house.  It  happens  that  he  and  Dent 
were  at  Eton  together.  Then  I  came  back  here 
to  luncheon,  and  afterwards  Admiral  Maxse 
had  kindly  arranged  that  Major  Fraser,  of  the 
North  Lancashire  Regiment,  should  take  us  up 
to  the  conning-tower  from  which  the  defence 
of  Kimberley  was  conducted. 

This  place  is  a  large  one,  scattered  over  a 
more  or  less  flat  plain,  so  that  the  circuit  of  our 
defences  was  about  thirteen  miles,  and  it  was 
hard  to  see  how  so  small  a  force  could  have  de- 
fended so  large  an  area.  In  fact,  if  the  Boers 
had  had  a  little  more  pluck  and  go,  they  could 
certainly  have  taken  the  place.  We  had  to 
climb  a  most  dizzy  iron  stair  leading  up  to  a  high 
tower  erected  on  the  top  of  a  shaft  in  connection 
with  De  Beers'  mine.  From  the  top  we  got  a 
splendid  view  of  the  whole  country  round.  We 
could  see  exactly  where  all  the  Boer  works  were, 
and  where  each  gun  was  stationed,  and  we  could 
see  exactly  where  General  French  appeared  and 
where  he  fought  the  Boers,  and  at  this  very 
moment  we  could  see  two  helios  working  away, 
one  communicating  with  General  Lord  Roberts 
and  one  with  Lord  Methuen.  The  latter  is  a 
bit  to  the  north-east,  but  I  do  not  follow  all  the 
movements  yet.    We  shall  hear  in  a  day  or  two 


236  KIMBERLEY 

what  they  are  up  to.  I  fancy  Lord  Methuen  Is 
in  the  direction  of  Boshof,  and  Lord  Roberts  is 
not  so  very  far  from  Bloemfontein.  While  we 
were  on  the  tower  an  explosion  took  place  in 
the  direction  of  Magersfontein.  We  did  not 
hear  the  report,  but  we  saw  a  ball  of  smoke 
very  like  a  shell.  We  cannot  make  out  what  it 
was.  We  hope  there  is  not  another  party  of 
Boers  turning  up  unexpectedly  to  shut  us  in 
again. 

To-night  the  Admiral  has  asked  me  to  dine 
with  him  to  meet  H.R.H.  Prince  Francis  of 
Teck.  I  am  much  afraid  this  may  have  missed 
the  English  mail.  The  train  to-morrow  morning 
ought  to  get  to  Cape  Town  on  Wednesday  morn- 
ing early,  and  so  I  took  it  for  granted  that  that 
would  be  in  time  for  the  boat,  which  does  not 
sail  till  Wednesday  afternoon  ;  but  I  find  that  it 
is  announced  here  that  the  English  mail  closes 
at  9  on  Saturday  night.  However,  I  still  think 
there  is  a  chance  for  this,  and  if  you  do  not  get 
it  I  hope  the  people  at  the  Cape  will  have  told 
you  of  this  trip,  and  so  you  will  understand. 

Monday,  March  12. — Last  night  I  dined  with 
the  Admiral  (Maxse),  and  Prince  Francis  of 
Teck  was  there,  also  Mr.  Justice  Hopley, 
and  the  Canadian  medical  officer,  and  Mr. 
Dent.     Prince    Francis  was   entertaining   and 


BOER    HEADQUARTERS  237 

very  friendly.  He  is  employed  here  as  re- 
mount officer.  I  think  they  are  glad  to  find 
billets  of  that  sort  for  the  Royal  officers,  as 
they  are  not  anxious  to  give  the  Boers  the 
kudos  of  shooting  them.  This  morning  I  went 
to  early  service  at  St.  Cyprian's,  and  after 
breakfast  we  started  on  the  drive  we  had 
arranged  to  Magersfontein.  We  had  chartered 
a  Cape  cart  with  a  couple  of  fat  horses.  I 
could  not  believe  they  had  been  through  the 
siege,  but  I  found  they  had,  which  seems  to 
show  that  things  were  not  very  desperate  with 
the  garrison.  I  found  also  huge  piles  of  fire- 
wood, so  that  they  were  in  no  immediate  danger 
of  running  short  of  fuel. 

We  started  about  9,  and  drove  out  to  the 
south,  watching  the  various  signs  of  the  siege. 
About  five  miles  out  we  came  to  Alexanders- 
fontein,  which  was  the  Boer  headquarters,  and 
the  nearest  point  of  their  lines.  It  is  a  farm 
consisting  of  a  series  of  huts,  and  they  were 
left  in  a  filthy  state  of  mess  and  disorder, 
having  evidently  been  used  as  sleeping  places, 
and  apparently  for  other  purposes.  To  the 
north  of  the  house  there  is  a  slight  rise  in  the 
ground  with  a  ridge  of  boulders,  which  the 
Boers  had  fortified,  and  outside  this  I  picked 
up  a  great  many  empty  cartridge  cases,  showing 


238  KIMBERLEY 

that  there  had  been  stiff  fighting  about  there. 
Then  we  drove  on  again  past  the  Spytfontein 
kopjes.  The  EngHsh  generals  evidently  ex- 
pected that  they  were  to  be  the  chief  fighting 
ground.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  expected 
the  Boers  to  make  their  stand  at  Magersfontein, 
which  is  nearer  the  Modder  River  and  more 
exposed. 

Three  miles  short  of  the  Magersfontein 
kopjes  we  came  to  a  farm  belonging  to  a  man 
called  Bissett.  We  had  hoped  to  get  him  as 
a  guide,  but  he  was  in  Kimberley  ;  but  his  wife 
told  us  where  to  go,  and  when  we  reached  the 
ground  we  found  that  a  guide  was  not  much 
needed,  the  ground  telling  its  own  tale.  On 
the  right  of  the  road  the  kopjes  begin,  rising 
abruptly  out  of  the  plain,  which  is  flat.  But 
the  trenches  ran  right  across  the  road,  and  I 
believe  for  several  miles  across  the  open  in  an 
easterly  direction.  In  fact,  I  fancy  it  was  on 
the  flat  considerably  to  the  east  of  the  kopjes 
that  the  Highlanders  got  into  such  a  trap. 
Probably  they  did  not  expect  any  trenches 
out  there.  We  drove  off  the  road  to  the  foot 
of  the  kopjes,  and  there  we  left  our  carriage 
and  walked  all  along  the  line  of  trenches  at  the 
base  of  the  hills.  The  Boers  here  had  learned 
the  value  of  trenches  on  the  flat  instead  of  on 


C.  T.  D. 


ALEXANDERSFONTEIN,     NEAR     KIMBERLEY. 
For  some  time  during  the  siege  the  Boer  Headquarters. 


BOER    LAAGER,    MAGERSFONTEIN. 


To  face  p.  238. 


BOER    TRENCHES  239 

the  hill,  as  from  them  a  rifle  bullet  covers  so 
much  more  ground  travelling  along  the  flat, 
which  spreads  unbroken  in  front,  whereas  from 
a  hill  there  is  a  good  deal  of  dead  ground  which 
the  defender  cannot  cover,  and  an  attacking 
force  gets  the  benefit  of  cover. 

The  trenches  were  the  most  surprising  thing 
of  all.  I  had  no  idea  how  elaborately  they  were 
constructed,  and  now  that  I  have  seen  them  I 
can  better  understand  how  at  Potgieter's  the 
Boers  were  able  to  lie  quiet  amid  the  terrible 
bombardment,  and  also  at  Colenso  and  else- 
where. The  trench  is  about  five  feet  deep,  so  that 
as  I  stood  in  it  to  fire  I  could  just  see  comfort- 
ably Qver  the  edge,  and  an  enemy  could  have 
seen  no  more  of  me  than  my  eyes,  and  not  even 
this  much  in  many  places,  as  the  sandbags  at  the 
top  were  arranged  with  a  gap  between,  making 
loopholes  for  the  rifle.  The  sides  were  per- 
pendicular, and  at  the  top  of  the  side  facing  the 
enemy  there  were  big  boulders,  so  as  to  keep 
them  from  slipping  away,  and  on  top  of  the 
boulders  two  rows  of  sandbags  filled  with  earth 
till  they  were  as  hard  as  rock.  Over  the  top 
of  these  a  certain  amount  of  earth  had  been 
piled,  so  as  to  make  the  whole  compact,  and 
on  the  outer  side  facing  our  men  only  a  mound 
of  about  eighteen  inches  was  visible,  and  even 


240  KIMBERLEY 

then  was  concealed  in  some  places  by  brushwood 
heaped  against  it.  Then  across  the  top  of  the 
trench  the  iron  uprights  of  wire  fences  and  poles 
had  been  placed,  and  across  these,  covering 
half  the  breadth  of  the  trench,  skins  of  bullocks 
and  sheep  were  stretched  or  corrugated  iron, 
and  earth  piled  on  the  top,  so  that  they  had 
regular  little  houses  half  the  breadth  of  the 
trench,  and  a  splendid  shelter  against  our 
shells.  No  shell  which  did  not  burst  right  on 
the  lip  of  the  trench  would  do  them  much  harm. 
However,  we  found  a  good  many  of  our  own 
shrapnel  bullets  along  the  edge  of  these  shelters 
and  in  the  bottom  of  the  trenches,  showing  that 
there  had  been  some  splendid  practice  on  the 
part  of  our  artillery.  Then  every  eight  or  ten 
yards  there  was  a  little  bridge  across  the  trench 
to  enable  men  to  run  rapidly  across. 

In  these  trenches  and  about  them  were  all 
sorts  of  refuse — all  the  signs  of  the  Boers'  re- 
cent habitation.  There  were  cases  and  bottles, 
empty  meat  tins  and  biscuit  tins,  old  hats,  and 
boots,  and  coats,  and  sacking,  and  nearly  all 
their  food  and  tobacco  seemed  by  the  names  on 
the  tins  to  have  come  from  England.  These 
trenches  were  absolutely  continuous  along  the 
whole  length  of  the  kopjes,  and  in  some  cases 
there   were  return  trenches  at  an  angle  with 


BOER  TRENCHES  24 I 

the  main  ones.     Then  we  came  to  a  break  in 
the  kopjes,  and  in  the  middle  of  them  a  se- 
cluded little  valley,  which  had  evidently  been 
a  laager.     The  earth  was  quite  bare  of  grass, 
as  if  large  troops  of  horse  and  men  had  been 
about,  and  in  the  kopjes  around  were  all  sorts 
of    shelters    roughly   constructed    out    of    the 
abounding  boulders.      Then   the   main  line  of 
the  kopje  was  continued  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  further  forward.      We  walked  across  to 
this   and  resumed  our  investigation.      In   the 
rear  of  this  second  line  of  kopjes  was  a  regular 
little  village  made  by  digging  out  the  side  of 
the  hill  and  building  walls  of  boulders,  and  iron 
uprights  and  wire  stretched  across  the  top,  and 
brushwood,  making  the  little  houses  into  arbours. 
Here  evidently  the  Boers  had  lived  when  off 
duty,  and  again  there  was  a  profusion  of  litter, 
including  some  quite  respectable  cases,  and  I 
noticed  one  tin  trunk  in  fairly  good  condition. 
They  had  evidently  left  hastily,  and  had  not 
been  able  to  remove  all  their  goods.     On  the 
outside  of  the  kopjes  the  line  of  trenches  con- 
tinued, and  far  beyond  where  we  went.     I  am 
told  that  altogether  there  are  about  fifteen  miles 
of  trenches.     The  labour  they  represent  is  pro- 
digious. 

Then  we  looked  at  the  results  of  our  artil- 

R 


242  KIMBERLEY 

lery  fire.  There  were  constant  holes  made 
in  the  ground  by  our  shells,  and  most  of  them 
were  stained  with  the  yellow  of  lyddite,  and 
fragments  of  exploded  shells  were  all  about  the 
place.  Then  we  returned  a  bit  and  climbed 
one  of  the  highest  of  the  kopjes,  where  evidently 
the  Boers'  biggest  gun  had  been.  There  was 
a  large  gun  emplacement  carefully  constructed. 
It  was  in  the  middle  of  two  high  banks,  with  a 
flat  platform  for  the  gun  to  run  to  and  fro  upon, 
and  in  front  there  were  sandbags  piled  on  each 
side,  leaving  only  room  for  the  muzzle  of  the 
gun.  The  rock  had  been  smashed  up  com- 
pletely and  thrown  in  all  directions.  Another 
six  feet  of  elevation  would  have  made  the  shot 
hit  the  gun  itself.  As  it  was  it  must  have  hit 
some  of  the  gunners  with  fragments  of  shot  and 
shell  and  put  the  gun  out  of  action  for  a  time. 
Another  shot  had  gone  just  over  the  top,  and 
had  hit  the  rock  at  the  far  end  of  the  gun  plat- 
form. 

We  picked  up  a  great  variety  of  cartridges 
on  the  field.  Very  obviously  they  had  used 
many  beside  the  ordinary  Mauser.  Bissett 
had  picked  up  a  large  number  of  soft-nose  or 
expanding  bullets,  which  are  contrary  to  ap- 
proved usage,  and  make  a  nasty  wound.  I 
found  one  cartridge  case  a  great  deal  bigger 


BOER    TRENCHES  243 

than  the  rest,  which  probably  represented  an 
elephant  gun.  It  is  terrible  to  think  what 
slaughter  the  Boers  would  make  among  an 
enemy  approaching  across  the  perfectly  open 
plain.  When  you  are  standing  in  the  trench 
your  eye  is  little  above  the  level  of  the  ground, 
so  that  while  you  are  hardly  seen  at  all,  the 
enemy  approaching  looks  very  big  and  presents 
a  splendid  target.  No  wonder  Lord  Methuen 
was  not  able  to  do  anything  against  them  here. 
If  only  he  could  have  gone  round,  as  General 
French  did  afterwards,  and  got  behind  the 
Boers,  and  so  threatened  their  lines  of  com- 
munication, he  would  perhaps  have  been  able 
to  make  them  forsake  this  stronghold.  But 
probably  he  had  not  men  enough  to  carry  this 
out,  or  he  was  not  mobile  enough,  and  the  risk 
of  having  his  own  communications  cut  was  too 
great.  Thank  God  the  Boers  are  out  of  it 
now ! 

There  was  so  much  to  see  that  there  was 
no  time  for  sketching ;  but  Mr.  Dent  took  some 
photographs,  of  which  I  hope  some  day  to  have 
a  copy,  but  not  yet,  as  he  sends  them  to  Eng- 
land to  be  developed.  Then  we  returned  to  the 
Bissetts,  made  our  tea,  and  opened  our  tinned 
tongue  and  had  luncheon.  Meanwhile  a  furious 
storm  of  locusts  was  passing  over  us.     Then 


244  KIMBERLEY 

we  drove  back  again  to  Kimberley.  Dent  and 
I  drove  round  to  the  station  to  see  about  getting 
a  compartment  reserved  for  the  downward 
journey  to-morrow.  Dined  at  the  Ckib  with 
the  usual  set. 


C.  T.  D. 


BOER    TRENCHES    AT    MAGERSFONTEIN. 
On  the  top  of  the  central  kopje  was  the  big  gun  emplacement. 


C.  T.  D. 


BOER    TRENCHES    AT    MAGERSFONTEIN. 


To  face  p.  "Ziti,. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

AT    THE    CAPE 

Return  to  Cape  Town— Kalk  Bay— Sir  A.  Milner's  Birth- 
day and  mine — Wynberg  Hospital ;  a  Wounded  Highlander 
from  Magersfontein ;  another  from  Spion  Kop — The  Cana- 
dians at  Paardeberg — A  Wounded  Boer. 

Tuesday,  March  13. — Started  at  11  a.m.  for 
another  two  days  in  the  train.  It  is  tedious 
enough,  and  I  need  not  weary  you  with  it. 
We  had  our  compartment  to  ourselves  and  got 
through  the  two  days  very  comfortably.  I 
wrote  the  whole  of  my  letter  for  the  Magazine 
— ten  pages  of  close  typewriting.  We  played 
piquet  of  an  evening,  and  read  a  great  deal  and 
smoked,  and  ate  grapes  and  otherwise  varied 
the  monotony,  and  your  invaluable  tea  basket 
played  a  considerable  part.  The  refreshment 
rooms  on  the  Cape  line  are  thoroughly  inferior, 
and  sometimes  we  made  our  own  luncheon  in- 
stead of  going  to  them.  I  brought  a  basket  of 
grapes  from  Highwick  which  lasted  out  the 
whole  week,  the  last  of  them  being  eaten  on 


246  AT    THE    CAPE 

Wednesday  night.  Troops  In  small  numbers 
at  many  parts  of  the  journey.  Reached  Cape 
Town  (or  rather,  Salt  River  Junction,  just  out- 
side it)  at  8  on  Thursday. 

Thursday,  March  15. — Got  home  just  after 
their  breakfast,  but  not  too  late  to  get  some. 
Sorry  to  find  that  my  two  small  boys  have  both 
been  poorly — the  baby  specially  with  bronchitis. 
In  the  middle  of  the  morning  I  got  a  telegram 
from  the  D.A.A.G.,  offering  us  passages  in 
the  Servia  to-morrow — most  annoying.  This 
is  the  second  offer  of  a  transport  which  would 
have  saved  us  a  good  deal  of  expense,  and  we 
cannot  accept  it  because  of  the  babies.  I  went 
into  town  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  made 
another  effort  to  see  Lady  Edward  Cecil  at 
Groot  Schuur,  as  her  father  the  Admiral  had 
charged  me  with  a  letter  to  her,  and  then  went 
into  town,  as  she  was  out,  for  luncheon,  and  to 
see  the  D.A.A.G.,  and  explain  why  we  could 
not  go  by  the  Servia. 

Cape  Town,  Saturday,  March  17. — Went  to 
Kalk  Bay  to  see  the  Archbishop,  who  is  staying 
there.  We  had  a  long  talk  over  various  matters 
of  importance,  and  then  luncheon,  at  which  his 
younger  boy  joined  us,  who  has  been  appointed 
to  the  Doris  (flagship)  as  a  midshipman.  Then 
I  went  round  to  my  cousin,  who  had  asked  me 


KALK    BAY  247 

to  go  fishing  with  him  on  the  rocks.  I  put  on 
disreputable  costume — khaki  jacket  and  black 
trousers — and  we  sallied  forth.  However,  it 
was  very  rough,  and  I  found  one  could  not  do 
much  unless  one  was  prepared  to  get  wet  from 
head  to  foot  and  plunge  into  the  breakers,  and 
as  I  had  to  travel  back  by  train  I  could  not 
manage  this,  so  I  left  him  to  do  most  of  it. 
His  brother-in-law  caught  a  young  whale — 
about  80  lb.  weight  I  should  think.  They 
call  it  steem-brass,  or  some  such  name.  It  is 
a  thing  very  like  the  conventional  fish  made 
in  china!  After  about  an  hour  of  this  I  re- 
turned, sitting  next  to  Sir  Henry  de  Villiers, 
the  Chief  Justice,  with  whom  I  had  a  few 
words. 

Thursday,  March  22. — Yesterday  afternoon 
I  went  down  to  the  Docks  to  say  good-bye 
to  Mr.  Dent  on  the  Norman.  There  was 
an  awful  crowd,  but  I  succeeded  in  finding 
him  after  a  search.  I  gave  him  a  letter  to  Nell, 
as  he  was  kind  enough  to  offer  to  look  through 
the  proofs  of  the  Diary  to  be  published.  I  was 
also  able  to  introduce  him  to  Mr.  Babington 
Smith,  who  came  out  from  the  Treasury  to  advise 
the  Natal  Government,  and  brought  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  me  from  St.  Clair  Donaldson. 
His  wife  is  a  daughter  of  Lord  Elgin ;  I  used 


248  AT    THE    CAPE 

to  know  her  mother  in  the  old  St.  Andrew's 
days.  Cecil  Rhodes  went  by  the  same  steamer, 
so  of  course  there  was  a  crowd  of  jingoes  to 
cheer  him.  After  saying  good-bye  I  went  off 
to  do  some  business  in  town,  and  then  re- 
turned to  Kenilworth.  There  seems  no  im- 
mediate chance  of  our  being  able  to  embark, 
the  doctor  shaking  his  head  even  as  to  our 
chances  next  week.  I  fear  I  must  not  stay 
beyond  that.  To-day  I  have  been  sketching 
in  the  drive — much  the  same  view  as  that  of 
which  you  have  a  sketch,  only  to-day  the 
mountain  was  in  a  haze,  which  I  thought  rather 
effective,  but  found  that  it  did  not  look  so  in  my 
picture  when  I  brought  it  into  the  house. 
There  was  more  haze  than  mountain.  So  I 
must  wait  for  another  day  and  make  it  a  bit 
more  definite,  which  means  practically  repaint- 
ing it. 

Friday^  March  23. — The  second  time  I  have 
spent  a  birthday  at  Highwick,  though  I  did  not 
expect  to  be  here  so  long  this  time.  The  uncle, 
as  usual,  kindly  added  to  my  library  by  giving 
me  two  volumes — Adam  Smith's  "  Historical 
Geography  of  the  Holy  Land"  and  Boyd  Car- 
penter's "  Bampton  Lectures."  Mother  gave 
me  Steevens's  "  From  Cape  Town  to  Lady- 
smith."    I  sent  a  telegram  of  good  wishes  to  Sir 


A    SEAFORTH    FROM    MAGERSFONTEIN        249 

Alfred  Mllner,  and  got  a  reply  wishing  many 
happy  returns  to  his  twin.  In  the  afternoon  I 
went  to  the  Wynberg  Hospital  to  inquire  for 
one  of  the  Seaforth  Highlanders — not  expect- 
ing to  find  him  as  they  told  me  that  he  had 
probably  rejoined  his  regiment  long  before 
this.  But  he  was  there,  having  gone  out  of 
hospital  and  come  back  again .  H  e  was  wounded 
in  one  leg  and  afterwards  got  water  in  the  knee 
of  the  other. 

After  visiting  Magersfontein  it  was  rather 
interesting  to  see  a  man  who  had  fought  there. 
He  tells  me  that  he  and  his  lot  were  actually 
through  the  Boer  trenches  in  the  dark  before 
they  knew  where  they  were.  I  cannot  quite  un- 
derstand this,  as  where  I  saw  them  the  trenches 
were  continuous,  and  a  man  could  not  get  be- 
yond them  without  falling  into  them — and  that 
he  clearly  did  not  do.  But  I  suppose  further  on 
than  where  I  was  there  must  be  a  gap.  This 
was  just  before  it  got  light,  and  it  is  a  marvel 
that  any  of  them  got  back  again,  and  indeed 
from  his  account  very  few  of  them  did  so.  He 
was  wounded  when  he  got  across  the  trenches 
again  and  fell  within  very  short  range  of  the 
trench.  Then  he  had  to  watch  his  chance  of 
getting  away.  Whenever  one  of  our  guns  fired 
the  Boers  in  the  trenches  ducked  their  heads, 


250  AT    THE    CAPE 

and  then  was  his  chance.  He  got  up  and  made 
a  short  rush  for  some  twenty  yards  and  dropped 
again  until  another  such  chance,  and  so  by 
degrees  got  back  out  of  their  range — this  with 
a  wounded  leg  must  have  been  a  hard  job,  and 
the  worst  of  it  was  that  our  shells  were  killing 
our  own  men.  One  can  quite  understand  how 
this  happened,  as  at  Belmont  and  Graspan  we 
had  had  to  drive  the  Boers  out  of  the  high 
kopjes,  and  no  doubt  we  jumped  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  we  should  have  the  same  task  at 
Magersfontein.  They  did  not  know  that  here 
it  was  not  the  top  of  the  kopjes  but  the  bottom 
that  was  intrenched,  and  that  the  trenches  were 
continued  out  into  the  plain  a  long  way  to  the 
east  of  the  end  of  the  kopjes.  The  different 
battalions  seem  to  have  been  quite  mixed  up  in 
the  dark.  The  Black  Watch  were  supposed  to 
be  in  the  front  line,  but  the  Seaforths  were 
among  them.  These  night  attacks  are  very 
risky  things  except  with  very  small  bodies  of 
men  on  positions  which  have  been  thoroughly 
reconnoitred  in  the  daytime.  I  could  not 
paint  to-day,  as  it  has  been  what  they  call  here 
a  **  Black  South-Easter,"  and  the  mountain  has 
been  in  cloud  all  day. 

Saturday,    March   24. — Again  the  ''South- 
Easter  "  and  no  painting.     In  the  afternoon  I 


THE   CANADIANS    AT    PAARDEBERG  25 1 

paid  another  visit  to  the  hospital,  and  saw  a  lot 
of  interesting  cases — men  from  all  parts  of 
the  globe — Canadians,  Australians,  and  New 
Zealanders.  They  were  all  nice  fellows  and 
very  ready  to  talk  about  the  war  and  their  ex- 
periences and  feelings.  Many  of  them  had 
been  hit  at  Paardeberg.  And  then  I  found  one 
man  of  the  Scottish  Rifles  (Cameronians)  who 
had  been  with  the  4th  Brigade,  and  so  had 
marched  and  bivouacked  with  me  when  I  was 
with  that  Brigade.  His  eyes  quite  twinkled 
with  interest  when  he  found  I  had  been  with 
them.  It  certainly  is  useful  in  the  way  of  putting 
one  into  touch  with  the  men.  We  talked  over 
our  night  march  to  Pretorius'  Farm  and  the 
sleep  on  the  wet  grass  and  the  view  from  the 
top  of  Spearman's  Hill  as  of  a  promised  land 
from  another  Pisgah,  and  the  bombardment  of 
the  Boer  trenches,  and  the  attack  on  Spion  Kop, 
in  which  his  battalion  performed  the  brilliant 
feat  of  getting  up  the  steep  and  almost  pre- 
cipitous side  of  that  mountain. 

One  of  the  Canadians  had  lost  his  leg  in  the 
last  and  successful  approach  to  the  Boers  at 
Paardeberg.  You  will  have  read  of  how,  in  the 
early  morning  of  the  27th  February  (Majuba 
Day),  the  Canadians  distinguished  themselves 
by  sapping  up  to  within  eighty  yards  of  the 


252  AT   THE    CAPE 

Boer  trenches.  He  tells  me  they  did  more  : 
one  of  their  officers  thought  they  might  get 
closer  still,  so  they  advanced  again  to  within 
about  thirty  yards,  but  unfortunately  in  doing 
so  some  one  kicked  against  some  empty  tins 
and  made  a  noise,  and  this  at  once  brought  a 
volley  from  the  enemy  in  which  several  of  their 
men  fell.  He  was  not  hit  then,  but  the  officer 
saw  that  they  were  a  bit  too  near  to  be  able 
to  work  at  the  trenches  and  so  ordered  them 
to  fall  back  to  the  previous  line,  and  he  stooped 
down  into  the  trench  to  get  his  rifle  and  in 
getting  up  was  shot  at  close  quarters  in  the 
knee,  which  was  so  smashed  that  the  leg  had  to 
be  amputated.  But  the  work  they  had  done  in 
creeping  up  so  close  and  holding  the  Boers 
while  the  Engineers  sapped  behind  them  was 
the  last  straw  which  broke  the  back  of  Cronje's 
resistance,  and  when  daylight  came  they  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  white  flag  hoisted  and 
an  end  put  to  the  pitiful  and  useless  waste  of 
life  which  had  been  going  on  for  ten  days.  It 
must  do  wonders  in  consolidating  the  Empire 
for  these  Colonial  Volunteers  to  be  working  side 
by  side  in  healthy  competition  with  our  regular 
troops  and  thus  holding  their  own.  It  gives 
them  a  new  self-respect  and  a  new  sense  of 
brotherhood.    And  all  of  them — Canadians,  and 


AT   WYNBERG    HOSPITAL  253 

Australians,  and  New  Zealanders — are  looking 
forward  tremendously  to  a  visit  to  England 
when  this  is  over. 

Sunday,  March  25. — Went  to  early  Cele- 
bration at  Claremont ;  at  1 1  Cecil  and  I  went 
to  Wynberg  Church.  It  was  rather  wet  and 
yet  close.  I  am  getting  a  very  idle  time.  I 
don't  think  many  people  know  that  I  am  here, 
so  that  I  have  managed  so  far  to  escape 
requests  for  sermons.  In  the  afternoon  I  went 
again  to  the  hospital  and  went  round  four  or 
five  more  wards.  I  found  one  more  from  '*  my  " 
battalion — a  young  fellow  of  the  Durham  Light 
Infantry.  Then  I  saw  several  of  the  Boer 
prisoners  who  are  wounded.  One  of  them  had 
been  at  Ladysmith  and  had  come  round  by  train 
to  reinforce  Cronje,  but  had  never  reached  him, 
having  been  engaged  by  some  of  our  troops  be- 
fore they  could  join  hands.  He  had  been  also 
in  the  trenches  round  Potgieter's  and  at  the 
battle  of  Spion  Kop,  though  his  regular  position 
was  on  Lombard's  Kop.  They  must  have 
brought  nearly  all  their  men  down  from  Lady- 
smith  to  oppose  us  at  Spion  Kop  and  Vaal 
Kranz,  which  makes  one  feel,  what  struck  me  at 
the  time,  that  our  garrison  at  Ladysmith  might 
have  ventured  a  little  more  in  the  way  of  co- 
operation during  those  battles.     His  description 


254  ^'^^   THE    CAPE 

of  Spion  Kop  makes  it  all  the  harder  to  under- 
stand why  we  had  to  fall  back  there.  He  says 
they  (the  Boers)  had  to  climb  to  the  top  of  the 
hill  to  oppose  us  there,  and  it  was  only  the 
mist  on  the  hill  that  enabled  them  to  do  it,  and 
that  they  had  no  trenches  on  the  top,  but  were 
merely  firing  from  behind  stones.  If  so,  why 
were  we  driven  back  ?  We  ought  to  have  been 
a  match  for  them  at  that  sort  of  game  where  the 
conditions  were  so  equal.  Certainly  it  was  their 
artillery  that  chiefly  compelled  us  to  fall  back. 
I  am  so  sorry  that  I  am  away  from  Natal  just 
now,  when  we  might  have  had  chances  of  talking 
it  over  with  those  who  were  there,  and  perhaps 
of  visiting  the  spot  to  see  for  ourselves  just 
where  the  respective  forces  were. 

Monday,  March  26. — Raining,  and  mountain 
in  cloud  all  day,  so  that  no  sketching  was 
possible.  I  wrote  and  read  all  the  morning, 
and  in  the  afternoon  went  again  to  the  hospital, 
and  lent  Wilson  the  book  which  Mother  gave 
me  for  my  birthday,  and  which  I  have  already 
read  through,  Steevens's  last  work — **  From 
Cape  Town  to  Ladysmith."  Then  I  went  to 
the  men's  wards  and  saw  a  certain  number,  a 
few,  here  and  there,  from  Natal. 

Tuesday,  March  27. — A  brilliant  day  after  the 
rain,  and  I  was  able  to  go  on  with  my  sketch 


AT   WYNBERG  255 

of  the  mountain — the  same  point  of  view  as  the 
one  at  home.  Then  I  went  to  luncheon  with 
the  Coadjutor  Bishop  (Gibson).  I  am  booking 
him  for  our  Synod,  when  we  are  to  have  special 
services  and  meetings  in  connection  with  the 
Bi-centenary  of  the  S.P.G.  He  is  a  very  keen 
missionary,  and  will  preach  and  speak  well  for 
this  object.  I  shall  see  if  I  can  take  him  over 
some  of  the  battlefields,  and  so  to  Troughton's 
mission,  which  is  not  far  from  Potgieter's,  and 
between  that  and  Ladysmith.  Then  I  went  on 
to  town  and  did  some  shopping.  There  was  a 
meeting  to  present  an  address  to  Sir  George 
White  before  his  departure  to-morrow. 


CHAPTER   XX 

CONCLUSION 

Errors,  Losses  and  Gains — A  Plea  for  Magnanimity  in  the 
Future — Lessons  of  the  War. 

Saturday,  April  21. — There  is  a  lull  in  the 
progress  of  the  war,  in  the  storm  of  battle.  The 
pause  gives  time  for  thought.  Looking  back  to  a 
month  ago,  it  perhaps  may  strike  us  that,  in  spite 
of  the  splendid  heroism  of  our  troops  and  the 
glorious  achievements  which  not  only  relieved 
Kimberley  and  Ladysmith,  but  relieved  the 
overwrought  tension  of  our  own  anxiety,  there 
was  just  a  slight  want  of  proportion  and  dignity 
in  the  way  in  which  the  Empire  in  general,  and 
London  in  particular,  stood  on  its  head,  so  to 
speak,  with  frenzied  exultation  that  the  army  of 
Boer  farmers  had  not  been  able  to  overwhelm 
our  garrisons.  However,  it  is  dangerous  work 
trying  to  stroke  down  the  British  lion  when  he 
is  rampant,  and  perhaps  he  has  had  sufficient 
calming  in  his  excitement  from  the  fact  that  the 
Boers,  who  for  the  moment  we  thought  to  be 


ERRORS    AND    LOSSES  257 

crushed,  have  come  up  again  smiling  both  in 
the  Free  State  and  Natal,  ready,  as  it  seems, 
for  another  round.  Natal,  which  was  reported 
practically  clear  of  the  enemy,  is  still  closed  to 
us  beyond  Elandslaagte,  and  our  friends  from 
Dundee  and  Newcastle  still  find  themselves  a 
long  way  from  home. 

Meanwhile  we  have  serious  food  for  reflec- 
tion in  the  very  plain  speaking  of  Lord  Roberts's 
despatches.  They  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
victory  was  dearly  bought — that  it  was  much 
more  expensive  in  human  life  through  defects 
of  generalship  than  it  ought  to  have  been. 
And  a  high  authority  tells  me  that  even  the 
last  fighting  before  we  reached  Ladysmith  was 
not  altogether  free  from  the  defects  which  have 
been  pointed  out  in  the  case  of  Spion  Kop  and 
Vaal  Kranz  :  *'  We  finished  up  with  a  very  hot 
fortnight,  fighting  on  some  days,  and  being 
sniped  and  shelled  on  all  and  on  several  nights. 
Our  losses  were  very  severe,  over  2,100  in  all, 
many  I  fear  uselessly  sacrificed.  On  the  last 
day  the  battalions  and  brigades  had  got  hope- 
lessly mixed  up,  but  all  did  their  share  of 
fighting  and  endurance."  However,  in  one  way 
the  error  of  former  battles  was  rectified  :  "  Our 
success  on  that  day  was  mainly  due  to  our 
being  able  to  fight  on  a  really  wide  front,  and 

s 


258  CONCLUSION 

although  we  lost  a  good  few,  the  victory  was 
cheaply  won."  It  was  the  want  of  that  wide 
front  that  was  the  cause  of  disaster  at  Spion 
Kop :  '*  Half  our  troops  hardly  fired  a  shot, 
and  the  remainder  were  too  crowded,  and,  being 
huddled  up  on  a  narrow  front,  were  terribly 
punished,  chiefly  by  shell  fire."  In  striking 
contrast  to  the  defects  of  generalship  was  the 
heroic  conduct  of  the  battalions — officers  and 
men.  I  believe  that  the  ascent  of  the  sugar 
loaf  point  of  Spion  Kop  by  the  60th  Rifles  was 
one  of  the  finest  things  in  the  whole  war,  and 
the  Scottish  Rifles  performed  much  the  same 
feat  a  little  further  along  the  ridge. 

Our  exultation  is  a  little  qualified  also  by  the 
sad  deaths  which  have  taken  place  since  the 
relief  of  Ladysmith.  That  poor  Colonel  Royston 
should  so  splendidly  have  survived  the  siege 
and  won  the  praise  of  all  the  generals,  only  to 
pass  away  from  us  at  the  moment  when  we 
were  looking  forward  to  receiving  him  back  in 
triumph,  has  cast  a  gloom  over  our  sunny 
prospect.  And  his  is  by  no  means  the  only 
case  in  which  the  relief  has  had  as  sad  a  side 
as  the  siege  itself. 

The  pause  gives  us  time  not  only  for  reflec- 
tion on  the  past,  but  also  for  consideration  of 
the  future.     During  my  absence  at  the  Cape  I 


A   PLEA    FOR    MAGNANIMITY  259 

have  been  missing  the  Natal  papers,  but  echoes 
reached  us  there  of  furious  cries  for  vengeance 
on  rebels.  No  doubt  magnanimity  has  got  a 
bad  name  among  us  because  it  has  been  asso- 
ciated in  the  past  with  weakness.  We  are  all 
resolved  that  there  shall  be  weakness  no  more, 
but  I  hope  we  are  all  equally  resolved  that  as 
Englishmen  and  citizens  of  a  world-wide  Em- 
pire we  cannot  ever  consent  to  put  aside  mag- 
nanimity. Magnanimous  we  must  continue  to 
be — magnanimous  with  a  magnanimity  which 
refuses  to  let  justice  ever  degenerate  into  re- 
venge, magnanimous  with  a  magnanimity  which 
gives  an  absolutely  fair  and  calm  hearing  to  all, 
and  distinguishes  absolutely  between  the  guilty 
and  the  innocent.  Where  there  is  clear  proof 
of  treason,  or  of  wanton  looting  of  neighbours' 
houses,  there  must  be  punishment  for  the  sake 
of  all — the  innocent  as  well  as  the  guilty.  And 
for  the  sake  of  the  peace  of  the  world  the 
British  flag  must  fly  over  all  this  distracted 
country,  that  it  may  be  distracted  no  more. 
But  government  is  a  failure  unless  it  secures 
the  goodwill  of  the  governed.  Mere  coercion, 
mere  suppression,  is  not  government  in  the  true 
sense.  Government  means  the  securing  by 
authority  of  the  conditions  which  shall  give 
freest  play  to  all  that  is  good  in  the  governed — 


26o  CONCLUSION 

that  shall  enlist  on  its  side  the  interests,  the 
goodwill,  the  loyalty,  and  devotion,  and  love  of 
its  subject.  All  this  may,  alas,  through  human 
passions,  be  a  long  way  off,  but  nothing  less 
than  this  must  be  our  ideal,  and  nothing  but  a 
high  and  magnanimous  spirit  will  ever  make 
that  ideal  attainable.  And  this  we  owe  to 
those  who  have  so  grandly  laid  down  their  lives 
in  England's  cause — in  the  cause  of  all  that  is 
good  and  noble.  Do  we  think — can  we  suppose 
— that  we  shall  honour  our  dead  by  a  blind  vin- 
dictiveness  and  clamour  for  revenge  ?  They 
gave  their  lives  to  secure  a  just  and  lasting 
peace.  We  wrong  the  great  spirit  of  their 
sacrifice  when  we  give  the  rein  to  a  spirit  of 
vindictiveness.  Our  debt  to  them  is  to  retain, 
to  carry  on,  to  make  fruitful  the  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  which  they  have  offered  on  the  altar  of 
their  country.  It  is  this  sacrifice  which  alone 
is  fruitful.  It  is  this  which  alone  justifies  empire. 
It  is  the  readiness  to  bear  the  burden — not  to 
be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister.  It  is  from 
the  supreme  sacrifice  that  all  power  and  claim 
to  empire  is  derived.  It  is  only  He  who  died 
who  can  say,  ''  All  power  is  given  to  Me — there- 
fore go  ye  into  all  the  world." 

I  see  Lord  Roberts  is  accused  in  some  quarters 
of  excess  of  magnanimity  in  his  proclamations. 


SIR   G.   WHITE   AND    LORD    ROBERTS         26 1 

He  who  has  given  his  own  son,  who,  if  any, 
might  claim  the  utmost  penalty  from  the  con- 
quered, has  earned  the  right  to  be  magnanimous. 

Before  I  left  Cape  Town  I  had  a  very  in- 
teresting and  kind  letter  from  Sir  George 
White.  Much  of  it  was  of  a  private  nature, 
but  I  may  quote  the  kind  words  he  uses  of  our 
good  Archdeacon  Barker,  who  has  won  golden 
opinions  from  all  for  his  conduct  and  example 
throughout  the  siege.  Sir  George  White  says  : 
"  I  should  like  to  say  a  word  to  you  on  behalf  of 
your  Archdeacon  at  Ladysmith.  All  through 
the  siege,  he,  his  wife  and  family,  maintained 
the  dignity  of  his  office  and  his  bearing  as  a 
brave  English  gentleman." 

I  have  also  received  a  very  kind  letter  from 
Lord  Roberts.  I  sent  him  a  first  copy  of  the 
circular  we  have  had  printed  appealing  for 
funds  to  complete  the  Garrison  Church  at  Fort 
Napier  by  the  addition  of  chancel  and  tower  as 
a  memorial  of  those  who  have  fallen  in  this  war. 
Lord  Roberts  writes  :  *'  I  have  telegraphed  a 
reply  to  your  letter  of  the  i6th  inst.  to  your 
address  at  Pietermaritzburg,  to  say  that  it  will 
afford  me  great  pleasure  to  have  my  name  en- 
tered as  a  patron  for  the  scheme  for  enlarging 
the  Garrison  Church  at  Pietermaritzburg.  I 
inclose  a  cheque  for  ;^ioo,  which  kindly  enter 


262  CONCLUSION 

as  follows  :  from  myself,  £s^ — Lady  Roberts, 
;^2  5 — each  of  my  two  daughters,  ;^I2  lo^.  I 
trust  that  your  appeal  will  be  generously  re- 
sponded to." 

#  #  #  #  # 

I  have  spoken  in  my  Diaries  of  the  outward 
aspect  of  the  war.  I  would  add  a  word  or  two 
on  its  inner  lessons.  I  am  constantly  being  ap- 
pealed to  to  put  forth  utterances  upon  the  moral 
lessons  of  the  war,  or  upon  the  duties  which  it 
suggests,  or  I  am  asked  to  call  for  general  re- 
pentance and  humiliation  under  the  chastening 
hand  of  God,  or  to  appoint  a  day  for  special 
fasting  and  prayer.  I  gladly  welcome  all  these 
suggestions,  and  I  hail  with  thankfulness  the 
signs  they  furnish  that  the  war  does  make 
people  think,  and  does  teach  lessons  of  the 
Divine  side  of  life.  At  the  same  time  these 
appeals  suggest  to  me  other  reflections.  There 
is,  for  instance,  something  wrong  in  the  thought 
that  God  has  now  intervened,  has  now  begun  to 
deal  with  us,  or  that  we  are  called  on  to  humble 
ourselves  as  we  should  not  have  been  if  we  had 
been  uniformly  successful,  or  that  our  reverses 
are  a  sign  of  God's  anger.  Those  who  are 
learning  to  walk  with  God  in  all  the  daily  walks 
of  life,  those  who  regard  the  whole  world  and 
and  all  its  history  as  the  outward  manifestation 


LESSONS    OF  THE    WAR  263 

of  the  Divine  ;  those  who  believe  that  through 
all  the  details  of  commonest  life,  as  well  as 
through  the  great  events  of  kingdoms,  **  one  in- 
creasing purpose  runs,"  will  not  fall  into  the 
mistake  of  thinking  that  God's  Hand  is  to  be 
discerned  alone  in  the  momentous  and  the 
startling.  They  will  know  that  He  calls  to  re- 
pentance and  to  awakening,  not  merely  by  the 
exceptional  and  the  awful,  but  by  the  common 
and  the  diurnal,  and  the  beneficent,  by  making 
*'  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  the  good,"  and 
sending  *'  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust." 
They  will  remember  that  lesson  to  the  prophet 
of  old — "  And  behold  the  Lord  passed  by,  and 
a  great  and  strong  wind  rent  the  mountains, 
and  brake  in  pieces  the  rocks  before  the  Lord ; 
but  the  Lord  was  not  in  the  wind  :  and  after  the 
wind  an  earthquake,  but  the  Lord  was  not  in 
the  earthquake ;  and  after  the  earthquake  a 
fire,  but  the  Lord  was  not  in  the  fire ;  and  after 
the  fire,  a  still  small  voice." 

It  is  not  then  that  God  is  more  present  with 
us  now  than  before,  or  that  he  is  speaking  to 
us  now  as  he  was  not  in  the  days  of  peace,  or 
that  there  was  less  need  then  to  pray  "in  all 
time  of  our  wealth  "  than  now  "  in  all  time  of 
our  tribulation,"  or  "in  the  hour  of  death," 
*'  Good  Lord,  deliver  us." 


264  CONCLUSION 

But  none  the  less  He  who  used  the  earth- 
quake to  bring  the  Philippian  jailor  to  his  knees, 
and  to  wring  from  him  the  cry  **  What  must  I 
do  to  be  saved  ? "  may  still  use  the  cannon's 
roar,  or  the  unlooked-for  disaster  to  startle  the 
thoughtless  to  thought,  or  the  worldly  to  alert- 
ness of  soul. 

And  if  this  has  already  been  the  result  we 
can  but  thank  God  for  it,  and  try  our  utmost  to 
follow  up  the  lesson  learnt  in  fear  and  anguish, 
by  pointing  to  Him  Who  at  all  times  is  ''  not  far 
from  any  one  of  us,  for  in  Him  we  live  and 
move,  and  have  our  being,"  and  without  Whom 
'*  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground." 

In  this  sense  we  may  well  believe  that  God 
has  been  accomplishing  a  great  purpose  by  this 
lesson  of  war  with  which  He  is  closing  for  us 
the  nineteenth  century.  But  the  lessons  I 
seem  to  learn  are  not  merely  those  which  im- 
press some  people,  viz.,  that  England  is  so 
worldly  and  so  given  up  to  money  and  ease 
that  we  need  the  chastening  of  defeat,  but  also 
that  England's  heart  is  still  so  far  true  that  it 
only  needs  a  special  call  to  make  men  show — 
to  themselves  as  well  as  to  others — how  little 
wealth  and  ease  weigh  in  the  balance  of  their 
estimate  of  the  things  worth  living  for  and 
worth  dying  for. 


LESSONS    OF    THE    WAR  265 

The  only  reason  then  why  I  a  little  hesitate 
to  make  some  one  supreme  effort  of  humilia- 
tion, or  to  set  aside  some  one  day,  is,  lest  we 
should  silence  the  anxiety  of  our  hearts,  which 
is  so  wholesome,  by  such  a  single  act  of  devo- 
tion, and  repent  while  the  shadow  of  reverse  is 
upon  us  only  to  go  back  lighthearted  to  the  old 
thoughtlessness  when  the  sun  of  prosperity 
shines  again.  What  I  would  rather  set  before 
us  all  is  the  aim  and  the  prayer  that  the  vision 
of  a  higher,  sterner  life,  of  a  grander  self- 
sacrifice,  or  a  more  perpetual  bearing  of  the 
burden  of  duty  and  responsibility  as  members 
of  a  great  Empire,  called  to  work  and  not  to 
play,  to  suffer,  not  to  enjoy,  may  remain  with  us 
as  a  permanent  possession  in  the  sunshine, 
when  God  brings  it  back,  as  it  has  assuredly 
been  with  us  in  the  dark  night  of  our  suspense. 

The  man  who  gazes  at  that  vision  most  wist- 
fully, and  presses  towards  it  most  ardently,  will 
be  the  first  to  feel  how  much  need  there  is  for 
humiliation  and  repentance,  how  far  we  have 
been  in  the  past  from  God's 

"  Ancient  sacrifice. 

An  humble  and  a  contrite  heart ;  " 

how  often  we  have    failed    to   bear  patiently 
and  devotedly  the  "  white  man's  burden,"  how 


266  CONCLUSION 

lightly  our  vast  responsibility  to  the  more  back- 
ward races  has  sat  upon  us,  how  we  have  lagged 
behind  in  the  steep  ascent  of  Duty :  but  he  will 
not  so  misread  the  central  lesson  of  Christianity, 
the  lesson  of  the  Cross  of  Calvary,  as  to  think 
that  apparent  failure  is  a  sign  of  God's  anger, 
or  that  wounds  and  death  are  necessarily 
punishments.  He  will  hail  the  bracing  air  of 
adversity,  happy  that  he  can 

"  Be  crossed  and  thwarted  as  a  man, 
Not  left  in  God's  contempt  apart. 
With  ghastly,  smooth  life,  dead  at  heart. 
Tame  in  Earth's  paddock  as  her  prize." 

A.  H.  Natal. 

Bishop's  House,  Maritzburg, 
March,  1900. 


CHISWICK    PRESS  :     CHARLES  WHITTINGHAM   AND  CO. 
TOOKS   COURT,    CHANCERY   LANE,    LONDON. 


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